Christmas Advent Devotional Day 10: The Astonishing Announcement

 


 


Luke 1:28

 28 And having come in, the angel said to her, “Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women!” (NKJV)

 

Can you imagine being Mary? Going along about your business, on a regular day, when suddenly an angel appears! Not only that, but he announces four groundbreaking truths to her.

First, Gabriel tells her to rejoice.  He is setting the scene for the coming announcement- it is good news!  Perhaps it will not sound like good news, or feel like good news, but it would, in fact, be the best news of all times. 

Second, Gabriel declares her to be highly favored.  Mary likely wondered why God had chosen her.  She was a God honoring young woman, but we have no Scriptural reason to believe she had ever encountered God before this time.  Yet, she had been chosen before her birth for this purpose.

Third, Gabriel proclaims that God is with her. Recall that after the fall of man, there came a wall of separation between the Creator and His created ones. At the time Gabriel appears to Mary (6 months after he appeared to John the Baptist’s father, Zechariah) the Israelites have not heard from God in 400 years. Feeling God was with them would be revolutionary at this juncture.

Finally, Gabriel pronounces her blessed among women. What greater assignment could come to a woman at that time, than to bear offspring? But to bear the Messiah was the envy of every Jewish woman.

Mary is celebrated above all women of all times. But with the Blessing came burden.  The burden of being misjudged.  Wrongly accused. 

Upon Mary would come Rachel’s grief, (see yesterday's post)  of having her child torn from her, tortured, and brutally murdered.  A sword would indeed pierce her soul (Luke 2:350.  But that is for the coming days. For now, rest here in the moment of blessed promise. 

We too have been called to rejoice over the birth of our Savior.  We too are highly favored if we have invited Jesus into our hearts.  We too have the promise that God is with us.  We too have been given the opportunity to carry Christ.  Rejoice!



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