seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
Luke 1:26 In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, 27 to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. 28 The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.”
29 Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. 30 But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. 31 You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.”
34 “How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?”
35 The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. 36 Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be unable to conceive is in her sixth month. 37 For no word from God will ever fail.”
38 “I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled.” Then the angel left her.
If some guy showed up out of nowhere, glowing or not, and said "you are highly favored"..... I don't know how I would react. I mean, I'm an old woman, and when someone says to an old woman... "this is your lucky day"... they might be being sarcastic. They could mean me serious harm. After all, I'm an old woman. BUT, Mary wasn't an old woman. Mary was a child by today's American way of thinking. She was just a child... 11 or 12 years old. She was betrothed, not married, betrothed. She was just a child. It's Gabriel again. He's the one that told Zechariah about Elizabeth. Stranger things have happened!
The angel told Mary she would be overshadowed by the power of the Most High. I tried binging it and I tried googling it and I got some vague answers, but I really don't think anyone has a clue how this could happen. Then again, we read about Moses and Elijah having a bright glowing powwow at the transfiguration, and no one has figured out how that happened either. Stranger things have indeed happened. I'm not supposed to figure this stuff out, I guess.
Wouldn't it be something if Jesus was really that baby that Bathsheba and David disposed of? Just an odd thought, right? Maybe Jesus was supposed to get that throne instead of Solomon. Maybe Jesus was coming back a second time... and... if that's the case, then coming back during the Revelation phase would be a third time on earth. Now that's a wild thought.... but is that thought as wild as a Spirit overcoming a little virgin girl resulting in a pregnancy. Abortion and rape come to mind but not the power of the Most High. I don't know if stranger things than that have happened.
At any rate, Gabriel told Mary she would get pregnant, have a son, name the baby Jesus, and he would be a king, forever.
We talk about how old Abe Lincoln was so poor he had to study by an old coal lamp. We talk about how old Abe Lincoln became a lawyer without going to formal college. We talk about how old Abe Lincoln became President. It's not that way in the days of a little girl named Mary in Nazareth, at the age of 11 or 12. There was no schooling for her. Her son would be a commoner, if they were to survive at all. Women who got pregnant out of wedlock were stoned to death in those days. There was no historical precedence for Jesus of Nazareth, conceived out of wedlock, could or would become king of Israel. Women were possessions and kings were born to kings.
Gabriel told Mary that her cousin Elizabeth was pregnant.
Stranger things have happened.
