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- The virgin birth, along with the resurrection
of Jesus, is one of the most doubted aspects of the biblical story of Jesus. No
doubt to a modern reader, who disbelieves the supernatural or only accepts the
physical realm, the Bible's testimony is dismissed out of hand.
- The leading priests and other early enemies of
Jesus dismissed the claim of Jesus to be the Son of God. Both then and now, it
defies the imagination of people that God would directly cause a young woman to
conceive and bear a son without the involvement of a sexual relationship with a
man or his seed. Without faith, the very
idea is laughable.
- Yet if the virgin birth is so difficult to
believe why does Luke include it in his narrative? Why is it part of the story?
It has been suggested that the Christian faith would've been better off had
Luke not included this information especially if it were fabricated, made up, a
figment of Luke's imagination. The story itself invites the accusation that
Jesus was an illegitimate child, born to parents out of wedlock.
- Luke
reported the story simply because it was true. As a medical doctor, he knew
very well how babies were made and it would've been just as difficult for him
to believe the virgin birth as it is for people today.
- In the opening verses of his gospel, Luke
tells us that he did the research that was necessary to write an orderly
account of the life of Christ based on eyewitness testimony.
- The early traditions of the church report to
us that Luke interviewed Mary herself for the opening chapters of his gospel.
It is her story that Luke reports not the product of his imagination.
- Those who believe that God created the
universe by the power of his spoken word should not have any trouble believing
that God has the power to create life in a virgin's womb.
- As the story of the first Christmas unfolds
for us from the gospel of Luke, beginning with the very first chapter, I want
to look at a question that will dominate the next three weeks: What is the
purpose of Christmas? That question leads me to today's question: What did Luke
tell his readers was the purpose of Gabriel's announcement to Mary? The purpose
of Gabriel's announcement to Mary was to present the good news that she was
chosen to bear a Son to establish God's eternal kingdom.
- On the surface, the fulfillment of this
promise seems like an impossibility not only for the very reasons that we have
already discussed, but for some other reasons which we will examine.
- What stands out to me, however, what I have
learned to be true in my own life, as well as, observing in the lives of others
is this: God fulfills his promises in
ways that defy human imagination.
- As we look at Gabriel's appearance to Mary and
his announcement to her, it is the way in which God chooses to fulfill his
promises that sticks out like a sore thumb in this passage. God acts in ways in
which we do not expect. He goes beyond our imaginations. What he does, we often
assume to be impossible!
-The first time we read about the angel Gabriel
in the Scriptures it is the prophet Daniel to whom Gabriel is sent to explain
the meaning of his visions. The second time we read about Gabriel it is the
priest Zechariah to whom Gabriel is sent
with the message that his wife, although she is old, will give birth to a son
who would be great.
- And now the third time we read about the angel
Gabriel, it seems as if he is sent to one of the most unlikely people, a very
young woman, a virgin who has just entered her childbearing years, who is also betrothed
and more likely than not living at home with her parents.
- In those days, the practice of betrothal was
such that very often once a young woman entered childbearing years she would be
engaged to be married. The parents of the bride and the groom negotiated the
bride price to be paid to the father of the bride by the groom's family.
- The young woman would then remain at home for
one full year during which time she must remain sexually pure. If the woman was
found to be pregnant during that time the betrothal could be annulled and the
bride and her family would bear the disgrace for the rest of their lives.
- Gabriel's message to Mary was a message that
would potentially turn her world upside down. How could people be expected to
believe that the famous angel Gabriel came to Mary telling her that she was
going to conceive a child by the power of the Holy Spirit? Who would believe
her story? Certainly, no one in their right mind would be willing to accept
such a story at face value. Joseph did, though not through any virtue or
insight of his own, but because he also received a special revelation from God
in a vision.
- Can you imagine the rumours? The gossip? The
accusations? The innuendo? Can you
imagine what a burden that would've been to bear in those days?
- It seems that it even followed Jesus in the
sarcastic response of certain people to Jesus teaching. They said to him,
"we were not born of sexual immorality" (i.e., we are not illegitimate
children), likely implying that they thought he was.
- Their statement was no mere insult, but an
indication that they had some superficial knowledge of his back story. As if
being a child born out of wedlock somehow delegitimizes personhood and dignity. Birth circumstances do not rob people of
their dignity, but people's attitudes, actions, and speech do.
- Never before had God caused a virgin to
conceive and give birth to a son. This action was something unthinkable,
something that would not even enter the realm of human imagination.
- If God hadn't done it before, so goes the
reasoning, then it must be impossible.
- How often do we forget that our God is
preoccupied with newness. As the prophet Isaiah declared, "Behold, I
am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?" (Isaiah
43:19, ESV)
- It is
because
of his interest in new things that God
fulfills his promises in ways that defy human imagination.
- Mary herself demonstrated her own limited
imagination as Scripture reveals, "How will this be, since I am a
virgin?"
- Now, whereas Zechariah doubted that his wife
Elizabeth could possibly have a child, Mary accepted by faith that God would do
it, but curiously wondered aloud how God would go about doing it.
- So Gabriel took the time to explain that her
pregnancy would be the result of the activity of God in her life, that the Holy
Spirit would do a new thing by causing her to conceive without sexual
intercourse. In his explanation, Gabriel included an aside about Elizabeth's
pregnancy in her old age then pronounced, "For nothing will be impossible
with God."
- God
fulfills his promises in ways that defy human imagination.
- The virgin birth of Jesus to Mary is the
fulfillment of the promise of God which defies our imaginations. That God would
come in human form, be born and grow up,
teach and heal, raise the dead, be crucified and buried, and then be
resurrected… Why the whole story defies our imaginations. But the fact remains
that God chooses to fulfill his promises in ways that defy human imagination.
In ways that seem impossible to us, God chooses to do a new thing. In ways that
seem unthinkable to us, God fulfills his promises.
- In his letter to the Ephesians, the apostle
Paul reminds us that God "is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask
or think" (Eph 3:20, ESV). The NIV of that verse says that
he, "is able to do immeasurably
more than all we ask or imagine."
- This Christmas as we spend time thinking about
how God fulfilled his promises on that first Christmas, let us prepare our
hearts and minds for the surprises that God has in store for us in the future.
- He alone is the one who is able to do
immeasurably far more abundantly than all we ask or think or imagine. We simply
are not capable of dreaming God sized dreams on our own. God alone is the one
who can put God sized dreams in our hearts and minds.
- God
fulfills his promises in ways that defy human imagination.
- Are we ready for God to do a new thing among
us? Are we ready for God to blow all our assumptions out of the water? Are we
ready for God to do something so big that our response is going to be like
Mary's? Lord, how will this be?
- Advent is a time of preparation. It is a time
set apart to prepare ourselves for the arrival of Christ. Let us set apart time for prayer this Advent
season to prepare ourselves for the new thing that God wants to do among us, in
us, through us, and around us. Let us commit ourselves to prayerfully
meditating on the fulfillment of his promises to us in Christ so that we may be
better prepared for the new ways in which he wants to act that defy our
imaginations.
- God fulfills his promises in ways that defy
human imagination.
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