It is also God’s grace that He leads us from things that already seem impossible
into things that are even more impossible.
“In the sixth month, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. The angel went to her and said, ‘Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.’ Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. But the angel said to her, ‘Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus’” (Luke 1:26–31).
As I meditate on this passage, I want to reflect on the lessons it gives:
(1) The “angel Gabriel,” who was “sent by God,” went to a virgin named Mary who was pledged to Joseph, a descendant of David, in the town of Nazareth in Galilee (Luke 1:26–27). He said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you” [(Korean Living Bible: “Favored young woman, rejoice! The Lord is with you”)] (v. 28), and again, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God” [(KLB: “Mary, do not be afraid. You have received God’s grace”)] (v. 30).
The meaning is this: Mary, a virgin who had no merit or qualification in herself, was chosen by God. To be chosen and given a holy mission was already God’s grace, but even more, by His sovereign and good will, God allowed her to conceive the Savior Jesus, the Son of God. (See AI overview note.)
(a) As I meditate on Mary, who was chosen in this special way and freely received God’s grace and blessing, I am reminded of Ephesians 1:3–5:
“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will.”
(i) I am also reminded of 1 Corinthians 15:10:
“But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me.” [(KLB: “But today I am who I am by God’s grace, and his grace to me was not in vain. I worked harder than all the other apostles, yet it was not I, but God’s grace with me.”)]
I also think of the gospel song Grace:
(Verse 1)
All the things I have enjoyed,
All the time I have passed through,
Every moment I have walked,
None of it was deserved, it was all grace.
The rising sun in the morning,
The sunset in the evening,
The fragrance of spring blossoms, the fruit of autumn,
Every changing season,
None of it was deserved, it was all grace.
(Verse 2)
That I was born into this world and live,
From childhood until now,
A life of breathing, living, and dreaming,
None of it was deserved, it was all grace.
That I live as a child of God,
That today I can praise and worship,
That I am blessed to share the gospel,
None of it was deserved, it was all grace.
(Chorus)
Everything is grace, grace, grace—endless grace.
There was nothing in my life that was truly deserved;
Everything was grace, it was all grace.
Everything is grace, grace, grace—endless grace.
There was nothing in my life that was truly deserved;
Everything was grace, it was all grace.
Everything was grace, it was all grace.
As disciples who follow Jesus, we must always remain within God’s grace (Acts 13:43). Therefore, we must have a strong sense of grace (and reject any sense of merit). We must labor much by God’s grace (1 Cor. 15:10). God’s grace not only leads us to confess, even after much work, “It was not I, but the grace of God with me” (vv. 8–10, KLB), but even after we have carried out everything the Lord has commanded, we can only say, “We are unworthy servants. We have only done our duty” (Luke 17:10, KLB).
(2) The angel Gabriel—whose name means “God is my strength”—was sent to the priest Zechariah with “this good news” (Luke 1:19, KLB): “Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to call him John” (v. 13). Later, when Elizabeth was six months pregnant, God sent the same angel Gabriel to Mary, a virgin pledged to Joseph of David’s line, in Nazareth (vv. 26–27, KLB), to deliver another message: “You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus” (v. 31).
(a) Gabriel, who “stands in the presence of God” [(KLB: “I am Gabriel, who serves in God’s presence”)] (v. 19), was sent by God. His duty was to faithfully deliver “this good news” (v. 19) according to God’s will—first to Zechariah, then to Mary.
(i) As I reflect on this, I realize that we who believe in Jesus are also His sent disciples. Just as the Lord commanded and set the example by proclaiming the good news (Luke 8:1, KLB), we too must go to those to whom He sends us and faithfully proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ.
As those who are sent, we must proclaim God’s Word “faithfully” (Jer. 23:28). Especially as a pastor, I have the responsibility to deliver the Word of God to His people faithfully, exactly as I received it—without adding to it or subtracting from it (Jer. 26:2; Prov. 30:6; Rev. 22:18–19).
Like the prophet Jeremiah, I must not withhold or distort the Word of God:
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A servant of the Lord must declare all the words God gives, without hiding any of them.
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A servant of the Lord must proclaim the Word whether people listen or not (cf. Ezek. 2:5,7; 3:11).
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A servant of the Lord must trust God’s promises over human promises and deliver even the words people may dislike—if they are God’s Word, they must be proclaimed as they are.
(ii) Reflecting further, Gabriel delivered God’s Word to Zechariah—“Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to call him John” (Luke 1:13)—and afterward to Mary—“You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus” (v. 31). Considering that the author of Luke’s Gospel was Luke the beloved physician (Col. 4:14), this sequence is striking from a human perspective.
From the viewpoint of a doctor (even though Luke was not an obstetrician), he records that God first promised an elderly, barren couple—Zechariah and Elizabeth—that they would bear a son, John. Immediately after, he records that God promised a virgin pledged to Joseph that she would bear a son, Jesus, the Son of God (v. 35). Medically, both situations were impossible. Yet Luke records them both, back to back. What thoughts must have run through his mind?
How could he write, first, that God promised to do the impossible, and then, even more, that God promised to do what seemed utterly impossible? Of course, as 2 Peter 1:21 (KLB) says, “No prophecy ever came by human will, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.” So Luke, inspired by the Spirit, wrote not from his own thoughts but from God. Yet from a human standpoint, it seems God intentionally had Luke record an impossible event, and then immediately record an even more impossible one, to show His almighty power.
This reminds me again of:
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Zechariah 8:6 (KLB): “This may seem impossible to the remnant of this people at that time, but it will not be impossible to me, declares the LORD Almighty.”
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Genesis 18:14 (KLB): “Is anything too hard for the LORD? At the appointed time next year, I will return, and Sarah will have a son.”
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Romans 4:18–21 (KLB): “Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, ‘So shall your offspring be.’ Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead—since he was about a hundred years old—and that Sarah’s womb was also dead. Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised.”
[Reference: God Who Sends Us Into Situations We Cannot Understand –