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All right, well, beautiful singing. I did love that song. So as you think about those words we just sung, let them kind of run through this morning as we go through the text. You’ll hear why in just a second. So I’ve not met you.
My name is Aaron, and I’m the preaching pastor here. And we’re really glad that you’re with us today. So if you have a Bible with you, if you open up to the Gospel of Luke today, our text or study is Luke 1, verses 26 through 38. If you don’t have a Bible with you, there are pew Bibles scattered throughout, and it’s on page 499. So Luke 1, 26, 38.
And as you’re opening your Bibles there, please do keep them open. So we do a style of preaching here, it’s called expository preaching, if you’re visiting. And so I’m going to read through the passage, and then as we work through the sermon, I’m just going to kind of go back through the passage and try to help us understand what the text is saying. And so open your Bible. Keep.
Keep it moving. Okay, so let me read the text and then I’ll pray and then we will get to work. So Luke 1, starting in verse 26, and I’m reading out of the English Standard Version, please hear the words of the Lord. So Luke wrote this. 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 of the house of David.
And the virgin’s name was Mary. And he came to her and said, greetings, O favored one. The Lord is with you. She was greatly troubled at the saying and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be. The angel said to her, do not be afraid, Mary, for you found favor with God.
Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great. He’ll be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he’ll reign over the house of Jacob forever. And of his kingdom there will be no end.
Mary said to the angel, how will this be since I am a virgin? The angel answered her, the Holy Spirit will come upon you. The power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore the child will be born, will be called holy, the Son of God. Behold, relative Elizabeth, in her old age, also has conceived a son.
And this is the Sixth month with which her who was called barren for nothing will be impossible with God. Mary said, behold, I am a servant of the Lord. Let it be to me according to your word. And the angel departed from her. So that’s God’s word for us this morning.
Would you please pray with me?
Lord, thank you for this time. And Lord, we’re here. Ultimately, we want to hear from you, from your word through the folly of preaching. So, Lord, please help me to be a good communicator this morning. Help me to rightly divide the word of truth.
Please keep me from error. Lord, please also just be with the congregation. Please give them ears to hear what the Spirit is saying. Pray use this time to bring much glory to Christ and to build up our faith in him. In Jesus name we pray.
Amen. So in the Old Testament book Isaiah, we read through the prophet Isaiah that the Lord how he’s going to condemn his people for their sin, which evolved to this great judgment that God was giving to his people. In Isaiah, but also in the book of Isaiah, we see the Lord give an incredible promise of great hope through an incredible plan by which the Lord would bring salvation to his people through a promised Messiah. And towards the end of this book, Isaiah one that’s filled with judgment and hope, this plan of salvation was to come. We read these words in chapter 55, verses 8 and 9.
So it says this. It says, for my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are my ways. Neither are your ways, my ways, declare the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. And through this verse, God here is just trying to help and encourage these people, to help them understand that this great plan of salvation that he has, this plan that involves judgment and salvation, this means something actually beyond them, something that they were not fully going to understand, maybe not fully grasp, because his ways, his thoughts are just not our ways, our thoughts.
Yet through this plan in the book of Isaiah, God’s people, they were to trust in him, knowing that the Lord was going to work out this plan for his people. And he’s worked out this plan by seeing a much bigger picture than they would see, a picture that is higher than the heavens, a much bigger picture that is filled with his pure and holy intentions. At least for me, the reality of these words of God’s thoughts and his ways not being mine, his plans not always being my plans, this continues to actually prove kind of hard for me to grasp in my own life. So I was just saying a little earlier prone to wander, Lord, I feel it. This is where for me, where I can be prone to wander, where I can feel discouraged or frustrated when the plans I want to see not come to fruition, or the plans actually do come to fruition being much different than what I would desire to take place.
And if it can be a little vulnerable with you this morning, in those moments, I do find it just really hard to trust in the Lord. My hunch is I’m not the only one here this morning that has a similar struggle with God’s plan for your life, when the reality of God’s plan can feel very different from the plan that you would want to happen, where God’s thoughts and God’s ways are not lining up with your thoughts in your ways. I say this all to you this morning just to help us set us up for a text of study which details a real plan of God, God’s plan of salvation, which is a text that I’m sure most of us are pretty familiar with. This is one I’m sure most of us here have heard many times, particularly around Christmas. And because the majority of us are pretty familiar with the story that I just read for you, as you’ve heard this many times, I think we might forget just how, like, confusing of a plan this would have been for the people in this time frame.
This was not a plan that would have made much sense to them. In this passage, where God’s thoughts are not our thoughts, his ways are not our ways, we see just clearly how God does see a much bigger plan. We see his pure and holy intentions that not only testify to his glory, but through this incredible plan, he is working salvation for his people. This morning, as we work through this familiar text, as we take time to consider the thoughts, the ways of the Lord, this plan of salvation that he implements in this text here, I do want this to be an encouragement to us, particularly in the times of our life when we are, like, frustrated or confused or disappointed that the plan that God might have for our own individual lives. Okay, now before we divide back into the text, let me just really quickly kind of catch us up to speed where we’ve been in our study of Luke.
So today is our third of what will be many sermons to come in this book, this book of Luke I’ll also refer to as, like the Gospel of Luke, and it’s a book that we learned in the first passage of study was an early account of historical events that took place that were based on eyewitnesses, where the Author of this book, a man named Luke, who was a missionary doctor, wrote to a man named Theophilus, where Theophilus seemed to be a person of influence and importance because Luke addressed him as most excellent Theophilus. And this early account of historic events that Luke was writing out centered on the life, the death, the resurrection and the ascension of Jesus Christ. Where through these events of the Lord Jesus Christ, Luke sought to help the Theophilus see how Jesus actually did set or accomplish all that he set out to accomplish, and how this is all part of God’s eternal plan. And as Luke wrote this orderly account, his hope for Theophilus was as Theophilus saw this plan of God through Jesus Christ, as reminded that his ways, God’s ways and thoughts are not his. This actually gives Theophilus like just greater confidence and greater assurance in the Lord and his plan.
All this I just mentioned here. This is what we learned in our first study, in our first sermon in verses one through four of chapter one. And if you’re with us, last week in verses five through 25 in our second sermon in this study, we got a little character introduction of this narrative that Luke was writing. In our study last week, we met a man named Zechariah who was a priest, although he kind of seemed to be just maybe like a normal, ordinary, basic priest who was married to a woman named Elizabeth. In our text last week, we learned a little bit about this couple.
So we learned they were a godly couple who walked blameless before God, who were righteous in their ways. And we also learned that they had no children, and they had no children, even though they were advanced in age. Because Elizabeth was barren, which we talked about last week, this has actually been a real cultural shame on her. And from what we saw in our text last week, this reality of not having children, this had Elizabeth and Zachariah like, discouraged, frustrated, maybe confused by God’s plan on their life. However, we also learned our text last week on what appeared to be a fairly normal day at the temple, as Zachariah was ministering at the altar of incense, a powerful angel of God named Gabriel, who’s also in the book of Daniel, Gabriel appears to Zachariah, where Gabriel tells Zachariah some, like, really good news, which is good news that God heard the prayers that he and his wife Elizabeth were praying, specifically prayers for a child.
And even though Elizabeth was barren, even though she was advanced in age, she would become pregnant and she was going to give birth to a son who would be named John. Furthermore, in this conversation Gabriel, let Zechariah know that this John, this son John, would be great before God and man, where God would actually uniquely use John to turn the hearts of many back to the Lord, as John would actually be the promised one to come, who would be the one who would prepare the way of the Messiah or the Christ, the one who God would use to save his people. As learned last week, even though Zechariah the priest would have understand the theme of running through the Old Testament of barren women giving birth to a son, even though he’d been aware, well, well aware of this one, who was the calm, this prophet who prepared the way for the Lord. In our text last week, for whatever reason, Zechariah doubted the message of the angel. He doubted God’s plan, he doubted God’s ways, his thoughts.
He doubted that God like providentially orchestrated for Elizabeth to become pregnant. So because of his unbelief, because of his doubts, as you may remember, Zechariah was punished and he was not able to speak until the time that his son John would be born. And we finish off in our text last week, in accordance with the message of the angel, according to the plan of God, indeed, Elizabeth did become pregnant, where she kept herself hidden as she is with child. Whereas she kept herself hidden, she testified in very similar ways to a lady named Rachel, testified in the book of Genesis, who also for a time was barren religious said or testified that the cultural shame, reproach that she bore for years was lifted from her because of the work of God in her life, because of the plan of God in her life, which again is not a plan that she and Elizabeth, or she and Zechariah would understood. Their thoughts and their ways were not theirs.
Now today, as we continue on in Luke, we actually come to a very similar story. We’re according to God’s good plan, according to his thoughts, to his ways that are so much greater than ours. We see in this ordinary account of Luke, we see, see even an even more amazing pregnancy that’s about to take place. Okay, so that is a introduction. If I look back with me starting in verse 26 mentioned at the start, please just keep your eyes in the text.
So starting verse 26, where we see this now, the sixth month, which we see later in the text, the sixth month here this is referring to the sixth month into which Elizabeth had become pregnant. So in the sixth month, around the start of Elizabeth’s third trimester, read that Gabriel, who also was in our test last week, who appeared to Zechariah at the temple to deliver the message of a birth was to come, we see that Gabriel is now back on the scene again, and he was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth. Here we see Gabriel proves to almost be like an angelic baby prophet, where he’s delivered another unexpected pregnancy, News of another unexpected pregnancy. Okay, now, just two quick things here. First, I do want to continue to stress about something I mentioned, the first two sermons, which revolves around the historicity of this book.
So the events we’re about to work through. So this happened in time six months after Elizabeth became pregnant. And in the historicity of this book, the space by which these events took place was in a city of Galilee named Nazareth. I want to keep emphasizing this, even though I’ve already emphasized the last two weeks, because this actually is the reality of our Christian faith. The faith that we have is tethered to the work of God, the plan of God that he implements in history, in time, in space, where all the events in this book, all the events concerning the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, including what we’re studying today, these are historical events, things that took place where eyewitnesses were there to observe.
Now, the reason why I want to keep emphasizing this is because kind of throughout church history, there were some who would maybe label some as Christian, yet have denied, like, the historicity of Scripture, particularly when it comes to, like, miraculous events like the one that we’re about to work through in our text. For some, they might see the stories of scripture more along the lines of, like, a legend, something that actually didn’t happen, but maybe there’s some type of, like, warm, fuzzy spiritual truth. And so because of that, we just keep telling these stories even though they didn’t take place. My friends, in the Gospel account, Luke takes so much time, so much energy, so much to ensure that Theophilus, that others, as you read this book, including us here today, for us to understand these are like historical events, things that took place based on eyewitness accounts. So in verse 26, in this orderly historical account, look recorded this came six months after Elizabeth became pregnant.
And it happened in a city of Galilee called Nazareth, which is actually the second thing I want to point out here. I just want to talk about Nazareth for just a little bit. Now. For many of us, once again, we’ve heard of Nazareth, probably at least familiar with the name Nazareth. And because of familiarity, we probably don’t think much about it, that Gabriel met a young woman in Nazareth already in the text.
This is where we start to see How God’s thoughts and God’s ways are not ours, where his plan is not our plan. And the reason being in historical context, Nazareth was nothing special. There’s nothing significant about this town. Nazareth is maybe 500 people at this time, maybe. In fact, it’s so small, so insignificant in terms of population, that Luke had informed Theophilus that Nazareth was in the region of Galilee.
Friends, we don’t have to give like a regional marker for a significant place. Let me give you two examples on this. So first, maybe I’m positive. So we don’t say Chicago, which is located in northeast Illinois, near Lake Michigan. We just say Chicago and everyone knows.
But maybe on the other end for someone like me. So I grew up in a town called Hatley, which was around like 300 people when I lived there. So I would say I grew up in central Wisconsin, just outside of a city called Wausau, which is a little bit bigger, in a town called Hatley. Now for me, I love Hatley, but it’s not a significant place. So unless you’re from that area, you’ve never heard of it.
So I have to explain a little bit on this location. And that’s what Luke is doing here with this marker of Galilee. This is Luke trying to help Theophilus be able to place this insignificant place, Nazareth. This is not a well known place. So for Theophilus, this would have been kind of interesting already for him to read.
Okay, something significant is about to take place in this orderly account, but it’s about to take place in somewhere I’ve never heard of, furthermore, kind of on the sand. So this region of Galilee, so It’s about like 70 miles or so to the northeast of Jerusalem. And this was an area where many Gentiles lived. Okay, now if you’re not familiar with the term Gentiles, something we talked about in the first sermon in Luke. So in Scripture, Gentiles refer to anyone who’s not Jewish.
And in this time period, there is a significant amount of hostility between Jews and Gentiles to the point that it appears that many Jews from other regions of Israel were like looked down upon the Jews who were living in the region of Galilee because they lived among Gentiles. Not only that, Herod we met last week in our text, was a king of the area during this time period. In this era, he built like pagan temples and held pagan sport events all throughout the region of Galilee. So Nazareth not only was insignificant town, but it’s located in a place or region that is not well thought of. By many Jewish people, particularly the social elites, rather the social elites, as they thought of Galilee, of Nazareth.
This is a place of disdain, of ridicule. This is certainly not a place where God would like, choose to implement an incredible plan. This has not been their thought, their ways. Third, keep going on this note. Do you know how many times Nazareth is mentioned in the Old Testament text by name?
0. And not only is it not listed in the Old Testament, it’s actually not even listed in any of the bigger historical works of that era. So we add up these factors. It’s not surprising that many years later, Jesus, as he starts his earthly ministry, there’s a man named Nathaniel, and he heard that, like, Jesus is from Nazareth. So he asked, like, the rhetorical question, wait, can anything good come out of Nazareth?
With the implied answer of no. Whoever’s worked through the text, Nazareth, of all places, this small, insignificant place, this is where God’s thoughts, his ways. This is where he desired to implement his great eternal plan. Okay, keep going. Verse 27, verse 27.
We see here we’re introduced to a new couple. And we see this couple that we’re introduced in our text today is on the other end of the age spectrum of Zechariah and Elizabeth, who we met last week, who were advanced in age. Now, this couple, they’re very young in age. And we see in verse 27 that the young woman who Gabriel was talking to was a virgin whose name was Mary. And we see that this virgin Mary was betrothed, which is kind of similar to being engaged to a man named Joseph who is of the house of David.
You know, just to emphasize a few things here. So first, the emphasis of verse 27 in this orally account is that Mary was a virgin. That’s really important for Luke in this orally account, and we know that this is the emphasis that Luke wants us to see is because twice in this verse, Luke described Mary as a virgin. So that’s really important. Second, just for some cultural understanding here on the betrothed virgin.
So based on cultural norms, most scholars think that Mary was probably somewhere between 12 and 15 years old. Like, currently, that’s between, like seventh and 10th grade. So very young, very young. Third, neither Mary or her betrothed Joseph are presented any type of, like, noteworthy or influential, like, type person on this scene here. I guess we don’t see that anywhere in Scripture.
Rather, Mary, Joseph, they just seem to be like, very normal, incredibly ordinary, not at all noteworthy. In fact, on this point, one of the reasons why so many cast their doubt on Jesus when he started his public ministry, but simply was like how ordinary Mary and Joseph were, where Joseph was just like a simple, ordinary carpenter, where Mary, most scholars assume she was just a simple, ordinary, poor peasant. Yet they keep saying this was God’s thoughts, God’s ways. This is part of his plan through this ordinary, insignificant couple. Fourth, we do want to mention here that while there’s nothing noteworthy of Joseph in terms of his own, like, popularity, influence, we do see Luke share a very important detail with us in this text here.
And that detail is that Joseph was of the house of David, as David certainly was popular, influential and noteworthy, as David not only was the great king of Israel who ruled about a thousand years, 900,000 years before the scene, but God also promised to David that through his line, through his house, the house of David, the Messiah would come. So this is a very important detail, one that’s grounded in Scripture, which is really actually pretty central to our text today. But for us to keep going here, verse 28, if you’re taking your eyes there, as Gabriel came to Mary, we read that he says to Mary, greetings, O favored one. The Lord is with you. Now just say pause again just to work through this greeting.
So this phrase, O favored one could also say something along the lines of, oh, favored one with grace. I do think that’s important for us to understand. So in Luke we’re going to see that Mary, like Elizabeth, as mentioned earlier, was like a righteous woman I to walk with God. Yet Mary also needed grace in her life. She also needed the Lord to be with her.
Second commandments note. Since sin entered into the world in Genesis 3, that brought with it a curse. God gave a promise that through a seed of a woman, one would come and reverse the curse. And from this greeting going forward, Mary is now presented as that woman that by her seed the one the Lord would be with that by her seed this promised one would come. Okay, keep going.
In the text, verse 29, as Gabriel greeted Mary, we see that she had a very similar initial response to Zechariah when Gabriel came to him in our text last week. So as Mary was greeted, we read that she was greatly troubled by the angel, particularly with the saying or the greeting that he just gave her where in her trouble. The text tells that Mary’s like trying to discern what sort of greeting this may be, which perhaps indicates Mary already starting to understand some of the significance of this conversation is about to unfold. Verse 30, as Gabriel could tell that Mary was troubled, very similar to how Zechariah came or responded to Gabriel and his trouble. We see that Gabriel spoke to Mary with words of comfort and kindness.
Or in the text, Gabriel to Mary. Don’t be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God where God desired to show his grace to you, his grace through you. So in his grace, behold, you will conceive in your womb and you will bear a son. And you will call the name of your son Jesus, which means God saves. In the text, He, Jesus, he will be great.
And he, this Jesus, he will be called the Son of the Most High. And Mary, the Lord will give you this son Jesus. And he’s gonna have the throne of his father David. And he will reign over the house of Jacob forever. In his kingdom there’s gonna be no end.
Now, a few things here. First, just notice reputation of God showing favor or grace towards Mary. So we see that in verse 28, oh favored one. Then again we see in verse 30 here, Mary, you have found favor. You found God’s grace.
God has given you grace. So Mary didn’t somehow earn this right to be the mother of the Lord. This is act of God’s grace on her. Act of grace according to his good plan. Second, as significant as John, the son of Zechariah and Elizabeth and our text last week would be, we see in our text today this child of Mary, this Jesus, he would be far more significant as this child will be great, so great he’ll be called the Son of the Most High, which speaks the divine nature of this Son of Mary.
And this son will be so great, he’ll be the one who sits on the eternal throne that was promised to David in second Samuel and Jacob in Genesis. This is Gabriel telling Mary that this Jesus, this son, he would be the long awaited Christ, the Messiah. Third, let me mention here is to go back to the theme we’ve been circling around this morning. I do want to just maybe sit for a second on this familiar story. Let’s just try to sit on just for a second here, just with fresh thoughts.
Let’s think about this. God’s great eternal plan was to send his great eternal son, Messiah to come to his people. This is the most significant of all plans is to come the birth of a young insignificant virgin from this most insignificant place. A place that was despised by many. Let’s just sit on this just for a second, right?
God’s thoughts, God’s ways, God’s plans, they’re not ours. I don’t think this is how we would have wrote the plan. Fourth, if I can just be a little tongue in cheek with you just for a second here. So when Christmas comes around, you hear the song Mary did you know? Being played the answer based on text.
Yes, Mary knew. How do we know? Gabriel told her. However, at this point, even though Mary knew this was about to take place, we see that she didn’t fully understand it. So in verse 34, if you want to take your eyes there, she asked the angel a question.
Gabriel, how will this all be since I’m a virgin? Gabriel, I know I’m a young woman, but I’m certainly old enough to know how this works. One becomes pregnant and I’m a virgin. So how will this be that I will be with child? Once again, this is a very similar question to what Zechariah asked Gabriel in our text last week as Gabriel told Zechariah that his barren wife Elizabeth have a son.
As Zechariah asked Gabriel, how will this be? I’m an old man, my wife is advancing years. How’s this going to work? Our text this week, again this week, this angel who’s given this prophetic gift here of the baby to come, this is Mary to Gabriel, this seems impossible. This seems like a plan that could never come to be.
However, though the similar questions was asked by Mary, we see Gabriel responds very differently to Mary than he did Zechariah in our text last week, remember last week, resulting in Zechariah being struck silent. It became mute for doubting what Gabriel said. But in our text today, as we can see in just a second here in verse 35, we see Gabriel has a very different response to Mary where he’s like very gracious with response, where no judgment actually falls on Mary for her questions. Now, for me, it’s hard to know exactly why Gabriel was so gracious in response to Mary and very different in how he responded to Zechariah. Perhaps the questions of Zechariah and Mary were maybe similar in what they were said, but maybe the tone, the questions were maybe very different.
Perhaps Zechariah was more accusatory in his question where Mary was maybe a little bit more sincere, inquisitive in her question, maybe looking for help in her unbelief, not knowing how this all would work out. Perhaps that’s why Gabriel’s response is gracious. Also wonder maybe one of the reasons why Gabriel responded so differently to Mary was due to the fact that Zechariah was a priest. And as a priest he would have known the Old Testament scriptures, even known that many times in the Old Testament, the Lord performed a miracle of a barren woman getting pregnant. Or in contrast, it doesn’t seem like Mary would have nearly that much information on scriptures as Zechariah would have had.
Based on cultural norms. It seems like Mary probably would have even been like illiterate, where her only access to scripture would have been through what her local priests would have taught here. So perhaps Zechariah was judged or Mary was given grace is due. How much was given to Zechariah and much more is expected to him because what was given to him, whatever the reason, verse 35, we see the gracious response of Gabriel. So Mary, you ask, how will this be?
Mary, you know this is a great question and I understand your confusion here. So how will this be? Mary, I gotta tell you, how this will be is because the Holy Spirit, the third member of the Blessed Trinity, he’s going to come upon you and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. And because of the power of the Most High, Mary, God’s going to perform a great miracle so that through the power of the Spirit, you’ll become a child. Therefore a child will be born by this miraculous conception.
He’ll be called holy, set apart for God. The Son of God goes on to tell Mary. There’s also something else, Mary, I want you to know, something you’re probably not aware of because she’s kept herself hidden. But behold your wife or your relative Elizabeth, in her old age, she also has conceived a son. And this is a six month into her pregnancy, who is called Barron.
Gabriel to Mary. Mary, I know none of this makes sense to you, at least not fully. This plan of God to bless his people through your son seems impossible. Too good to be true. Verse 37, Mary, remember Mary, have faith.
Nothing will be impossible with God. Nothing can thwart his thoughts, his ways, his plans, even when they don’t make sense to us. Even for us, as we look around, it seems like impossible for something good to come from the text. As Mary heard all this, we see her indeed respond back in faith by simply saying, behold, I am the servant of the Lord. Let it be to me according to your word.
And our text ends this morning as the angel departed from her. I’m just going to give you three quick things here before I close our time with some few thoughts. So first, two of these things and what we just went through have connections to the Old Testament. So first connection just revolves around the book of Isaiah that we already talked about briefly at the start. So let me just share with you two prophecies in that book that we see fulfilled in our text today.
So Isaiah 7 says this. Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son and you should call his name Immanuel with the name Immanuel means God with us. The second verse in Isaiah I want to point out to our second passage very similar language to verses 32 and 33 of our passages look today. So Isaiah 9 says this for to us a child is born, to us a son is given and the government shall be upon his shoulder and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Of the increase of his government in peace there will be no end on the throne of David and over his kingdom to establish it and uphold it with justice and with righteousness. From this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this for us to keep seeing it. While the plan of God to bring forth salvation might not make sense sense to us with how this plan was implemented for us at the same time, friends, God is very clear in his word all this is all going to take place. Which is why Mary is so right to Respond in verse 38 Let it be according to to your Word, which the Word actually a couple lines later after the Lord declared isaiah in chapter 55 how his thoughts are not our thoughts, his ways are not our ways.
Isaiah tells this the word of God that goes from the God’s mouth, it shall not return to him empty, but rather God’s word shall accomplish all that God has set to purpose it to accomplish and succeed in the things that he sent it to do Something. We’ll come back to more in just a second. Just notice that this is not just some story out of nowhere. This is something that Scripture foretold would happen. Second connection I just want to point out here from the last few verses of our text relates to Genesis 1 and the story of creation.
So Genesis 1 verses 1 and 2 says this. In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void and darkness over the faces of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. Now the point of interest here revolves around the Spirit of God hovering over the face of the waters at creation.
And scholars point out this is actually very similar language that Gabriel used in verse 35 of our text. If you want to take your eyes back there as he explains to Mary, how will this be? The Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Most High will overshadow you, will hover over you. Therefore the child will be born. Most scholars agree that this conception of Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit, this is now presented as like a new creation that is to come.
Where in this new creation come this child born of Mary would be the one who would not only reverse the curse that came in as sin entered the world in Genesis 3, but this child to come and this new creation would indeed make all things new. Third, before we get to conclusion, I just want to stress Mary’s response as she heard the plan of God. This plan did not fully make sense to her. So verse 38, just to sit on this too for a little bit. As she hears all this incredible news, she responds, behold, I am your servant, or I am the servant of the Lord, Let it be to me according to your word Church.
Maybe we have that same type of response. Whatever God’s plan might be for us and for our life, particularly during times when his thoughts and ways don’t make any sense to us or maybe cause us to be frustrated or discouraged, or it seems like almost impossible for good to come. While we might not understand God’s ways and his plans, by faith we trust and may we respond by saying, lord, I am your servant. Let it be to me according to your Word. And this leads how we want to end this time.
So I just want to point out just a few things from this familiar story just that comes with the thoughts and the ways, the plan of God. So a few things there. And then I just want to end with just some encouragement to leave us for us in our own personal lives, especially when our lives just don’t make sense. So let me give you a few thoughts just on this familiar story. So first, the thoughts, the ways, a plan of God, friends, they’re always according to His Word.
Always. And I do think that’s really important for us to see in our text today and all the different ways the Old Testament is presented in this passage. None of this, none of this story happened in a vacuum where God is like kind of in heaven kind of watching this all take place. So he’s like, kind of like haphazardly, like firing from the hip, destroying things against the wall, the sea would stick. Or maybe he’s like trying to implement a plan, like just out of panic.
Rather, this is all according to his word, all according to the promises he’s given to us. Second, the thoughts, the ways, the plan of God, friends, they are tied to his great plan. Of salvation, plan of salvation through Jesus Christ. We’ll talk about more in just a second. This entire plan of God in this text, there’s a plan that he’s using unlikely people from an unlikely place.
A plan that not only causes Mary confusion in the scene, but even as you read through the Gospel of Luke continues on, where everyone’s confused by this plan. In fact, even the great John, the son of John the Baptist, John the son of Elizabeth and Zechariah in chapter seven, like even he’s confused by Jesus, by God’s plan of salvation. Yet through this story, through the coming of Christ, by the plan of God, Scripture is abundantly clear. This is how salvation would come through God’s eternal son, the Lord Jesus Christ, coming to mankind to prove that indeed he is the Promised Christ, the one who has come to save his people and friends for us. All of God’s plans in the end are tied to this, including the plan of each of our individual lives.
But God is at work using his people to extend his salvation through the Lord Jesus Christ. Third Thought so the thoughts, the ways, the plans of God, in the end, they’re there to bring glory to Christ. This is always central in all that God does, in all of his thoughts, in all of his ways, in all of his plans, including the plans that we don’t always, always understand. They’re there in the end to make much of Christ, which is verse 32, verse 33 of our text, where forever and ever and ever, Amen. Christ is gonna be the one who is glorified.
He rules as he rules over his eternal kingdom that will never cease. So, yes, while we might not see and understand the bigger picture of what God is doing. Say it again, friends. In the end, all the thoughts, all the ways, all the plans of God, all these plans that were formed before the foundation of the world were set. Plans are implemented in time and space, plans that will last for all eternity.
They’re all there to bring glory to Christ, including the plan that he has for you. Somehow, some way, as impossible as it might seem to you, God, through His thoughts, his ways, his plan is working so that Christ would be glorified. Which leads to actually the encouragement I want to leave you with. So as we close friends, simply trust in the Lord and trust him with whatever plan that he has for your life. Maybe especially when the plan does not make sense to you, or it’s a plan that you would not choose for yourself and trust him with whatever plan he has for your life, not just because of this familiar Story that points to the birth of Christ, who came in most unexpected ways, but ultimately trust in him.
Because why? Christ came to be born a virgin, which according to Scripture, came to die for his people, to take on the punishment of our sin, where he’s died and buried, only to rise again on the third day so we can trust in his plan for our life as we see that plan, the plan of God in the cross of Christ. Let me just read you one last passage from Isaiah. This is also maybe a familiar passage to many of us, so I’m not going to read the entire thing, but this is speaking about Jesus to come. As I read through this, just ask yourself, would this be your plan of salvation?
This is about Jesus. So he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, no beauty that we should desire Him. In fact, he was despised, rejected by man. He was a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief. And as one from whom men hid their faces, he was despised and we esteemed him not.
Surely he bore our griefs, he carried our sorrows. Yet we esteemed him, stricken, smitten by God and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. Upon him was a chastisement that brought us peace.
And with his wounds we are healed.
All we, like sheep, have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his own way. The Lord laid upon him the iniquity of us all. Church. May we trust in the Lord with whatever plan that he has for our life, knowing that all of his plans not only prove to be good for his people in the end.
In the end, all of his thoughts, all of his ways, all of his plans, in the end, they do take us to the Lord Jesus Christ, the One who came for us to die, for us to bring about the forgiveness of our sin, which is how he’s creating all things new, where not only did he die, but as mentioned, he rose again from the dead where he did the impossible.
Praise God that his thoughts, his ways, his plans are not ours. Why? Because they’re so much better. Let’s pray.
Lord, thank you for this text. Thank you for the truth that is there. Lord, we do thank you that your thoughts and your ways, your point, plans are not ours.
And Lord, we’re weak, we’re frail, we’re feeble, we’re prone to wander, especially during times when things just don’t make sense or don’t add up for us. So please help us to be mindful of stories like this. We just read today and how you’re at work through a very unexpected way in a very unexpected place.
Please help us, please give us confidence as we read stories like this, that we can trust that you’re doing things in our own lives that we might not understand ultimately. Lord, help us just to trust in the cross, trust in the death and the resurrection of Christ for the forgiveness of sins.
And I pray this all in Jesus name, amen.