The passage explains the divine conception of Jesus through the Holy Spirit to Mary, emphasizing God's power to accomplish the impossible and encouraging faith in His word.
[Music]
the angel gabriel gave mary some
startling news mary was to be the mother
of the messiah
by god's grace she would conceive in her
womb and give birth to the very son of god
god
we read in luke 1 beginning at verse 30
and the angel said unto her fear not
mary for thou hast found favor or grace
with god
and behold thou shalt conceive in thy
womb and bring forth a son
and shalt call his name jesus
he shall be great and shall be called
the son of the highest and the lord god
shall give unto him the throne of his
father david
and he shall reign over the house of
jacob forever
and of his kingdom there shall be
no end
well mary knew what was going to happen
but she did not know how it was going to
happen and therefore she asks in verse 34
34
then said mary unto the angel how shall
this be
seeing i know not a man
now mary's question was not born out of
unbelief as was the response of
zacharias back in verse 18.
when the angel told zacharias that his
wife would be bearing a son
the priest said how shall i know this
for i am an old man and my wife
well-stricken in years
well he was struck dumb because of his
unbelief according to verse 20
because thou believest not my words
which shall be fulfilled in their season
now mary knew that god could do the
impossible but how would he enable her
to conceive when she was not yet married
and more than that how could a mother
who admitted that she needed a savior
give birth to the sinless son of god who
can bring a clean thing out of an
unclean asked job 14 verse 4 and the
answer is given not one
and in job 25 4 the question is asked
how can he be clean that is born of a
woman now that was mary's concern
how would god bring about this wonderful
birth of the sinless son of god
well gabriel gave to mary a threefold
answer to her question and as we
consider this threefold answer i think
it's going to encourage us
to face the impossible and trust god i
don't know what you're facing today you
may have a physical problem or an
emotional problem there might be
something in the family or something in
your finances your business
perhaps you are discouraged with the
ministry of the church i don't know but
i want you to know as we study the word
of god today our god is the god of the impossible
impossible
first in verse 35 gabriel gave to mary a
word of enlightenment a word of explanation
explanation
the angel answered and said unto her
the holy spirit shall come upon thee and
the power of the highest shall
overshadow thee
therefore also that holy thing
which shall be born of thee shall be
called the son of god you see he
enlightens her and tells her exactly how
god is going to perform this miracle
would you notice that not one word is
said about joseph
mary was engaged to joseph among the
jews at that time engagement was the
next thing to marriage i mean you did
not break an engagement except by divorce
divorce
and if an engaged girl was found
unfaithful to her fiance it was treated
like adultery
and so mary is wondering how this can be
done and the angel says it's not going
to be through joseph
it's going to be through the power of
the holy spirit of god now this is the
miracle of the virgin birth the virgin
conception and birth of our lord jesus
christ this was predicted back in the
old testament in isaiah chapter 7 and
verse 14.
in fact when god explained all of this
to joseph some three months later this
joseph thou son of david fear not to
take unto thee mary thy wife for that
which is conceived in her is of the holy ghost
ghost
and she shall bring forth a son and thou
shalt call his name jesus for he shall
save his people from their sins
now all this was done that it might be
fulfilled which was spoken of the lord
by the prophet saying and here's isaiah
7 14
behold a virgin shall be with child and
shall bring forth a son and they shall
call his name emmanuel which being
interpreted is god with us
you see the angel says that what is born
is going to be holy now the word holy
means set apart special unique
belonging to god in this case it means sinless
sinless
the sinless son of god
first peter 2 22 informs us that jesus
did no sin that's an interesting
statement in order to do no sin you must
have no sin in you and that's what we
find out in first john 3 5.
first john 3 5 states that in him is no
sin and this is why he did no sin first
peter 2 22
in fact second corinthians 5 21
underscores this by saying he knew no
sin that is he never experienced it now
of course he knew what sin was being god
and he knew what sin did
in fact he knows far better than we do
for he can see the end from the
beginning but jesus christ when he was
born is that holy thing the son of god
now the key word here is the word overshadowed
overshadowed
and the power of the highest shall
overshadow thee this is the same word
that is used in exodus chapter 40 verse
35 talking about the tabernacle let me
read it to you i'll begin with verse 34
of exodus 40.
then a cloud covered the tent of the congregation
congregation
and the glory of the lord filled the tabernacle
tabernacle
and moses was not able to enter into the
tent of the congregation because the
cloud abode thereon and the glory of the
lord filled the tabernacle now in the
greek translation of the old testament
the word abode in verse 35 of exodus 40
is the same as the word overshadow in
verse 35 of luke chapter 1.
it's the greek word
episkeyazo which means to overshadow
it's a picture of the shekinah glory
settling down in the holy of holies in
the tabernacle in other words
mary's body became the very temple of god
god
and the glory of god overshadowed her
and the power of god performed a miracle and
and
jesus was conceived in her virgin womb
this word over shadow is the same word
used in matthew mark and luke describing the
the
cloud at the transfiguration
where the cloud overshadowed them
as they were there on the mount with the
lord jesus now you and i
live under the shadow of the almighty we
live in the holy of holies if you are a
christian god has overshadowed you more
than that god lives in you by the power
of his holy spirit and the presence of
his holy spirit
therefore also that holy thing which
shall be born of thee shall be called
the son of god in hebrews 10 5 the lord
jesus says a body hast thou prepared me
this was done by the holy spirit of god
you see adam was given a body directly
by god
without a man or a woman
eve got her body from the man
but cain and abel got their bodies from
a man and a woman
the lord jesus got his body through a
woman through the power of the holy
spirit without the intervention of the man
man
god prepared a body for his son well a
word of enlightenment then in verse 36
there's a word of encouragement
and behold thy cousin or thy relative
elizabeth hath also conceived a son in
her old age and this is the sixth month
with her who was called baron you'll
recall that elizabeth had been hiding
herself for five months according to
verse 24. now apparently mary didn't
know about this elizabeth knew about it and
and
zacharias of course knew about it but
mary didn't know about it it's likely
that elizabeth and zacharias lived about
a hundred miles away from nazareth
probably in the priestly town of hebron
now we aren't told specifically but many
bible students believe that they were
living in hebron and so
mary had no way of knowing what was
happening to elizabeth
and now she gets the good news that her
aged relative this word cousin in the
greek means any kind of a relative
her aged relative was going to give
birth in her old age to a son now this
is a remarkable thing it's a word of encouragement
