Angelology

When Zacharias questioned what the angel was telling him in Luke 1:18 we discovered that the reliability of the message is wrapped up in the credibility of the messenger. Now beginning in Luke 1:26-38 we are about to find out why that is so vital. Because if the message brought to Zacharias by the angel was fantastic, then even more so the message which Gabriel brings to Mary.

This passage which is a dialog between Gabriel and Mary usually ends up with Mary getting all of the attention, but Gabriel serves as the bookends for the passage, both starting and stopping it. The reason this matters is that the gospel is initiated in heaven – not on earth. Mary is not the creator of the child, God is. We receive the gospel but we neither initiate nor create it. The gospel is God’s work in us, just as the infant Jesus – the fetus is God’s work in Mary. Mary had no more power to create Christ inside of her than we do! Christ in us like Christ in

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Have you ever read the Bible and thought, “Man I wish God would do things like that today!” I believe that he still does. And I believe that Zacharias and Elizabeth would have been thinking the same thing. Last week we met them dwelling in faithfulness and obedience as a righteous couple, in the midst of a not very righteous world. For us they are just like any faithful Christian today, who is waiting for the day of the Lord. That morning when Zacharias went to work I don’t believe he had any clue what God was about to do in, through and with him. Open up your Bible once again as we look to see what happens when God breaks the silence. (Read Luke 1:5-25)

As John the baptizer’s task would be to prepare the way for the Messiah, the announcement of his birth and the subsequent way the miracle of John’s birth plays out already sets the stage for people to begin expecting God to do great things. But don’t miss that it all starts in the midst of regular life.