The Gospel of Luke: The Birth of Jesus Foretold 09/25/2022

First Baptist Church Leominster

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Beloved in the Lord, greet Ebranus, our fellow worker in Christ, and my beloved

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Stachius. Greet Apelles, who is approved in Christ, and greet those who belong to the family of Astrobulus.

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Greet my kinsman Herodian. Greet those in the Lord who belong to the family of Narcissus. Greet those workers in the

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Lord, Tryphena and Tryphosa. Greet the beloved Persis, who has worked hard in the

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Lord. Greet Rufus, chosen in the Lord, also his mother, who has been a mother to me as well.

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Greet Encynctus, Philegon, Hermes, Petrobus, Hermas, and the brothers who are with them.

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Greet Philagius, Julia, Nereus, and his sister, and Olympias, and all the saints who are with them.

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Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the churches of Christ greet you. I appeal to you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and create obstacles contrary to the doctrine that you have been taught.

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Avoid them, for such persons do not serve our Lord Christ, but their own appetites, and by smooth talk and flattery, they deceive the hearts of the naive.

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For your obedience is known to all, so that I rejoice over you, but I want you to be wise as to what is good and innocent as to what is evil.

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The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.

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Timothy, my fellow worker, greets you. So do Lucius, and Jason, and Sosipater, my kinsmen.

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I, Tertius, who wrote this letter, greet you in the Lord. Gaius, who is the host to me in the whole church, greets you.

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Erastus, the city treasurer, and our brother Cortus greet you. Now to him who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery that was kept secret for long ages, but has now been disclosed, and through the prophetic writings has been made known to all nations, according to the command of the eternal

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God to bring about the obedience of faith. To the only wise God be glory forevermore through Jesus Christ, amen.

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Let's pray. Our Father, we thank you for your word, and we thank you,

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Lord, for the blessings of knowing you, of loving you, and learning of you. Father, help us as we go before, sit before the word.

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May you sanctify us and grow us in our faith. May you bless our pastor as he brings the word to us.

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Give him strength, Lord, to proclaim your word, and may your spirit be upon him to equip him and guide him as he proclaims the truth.

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And be with us all, Lord. Sanctify us, we pray, that we'll be maturing in our faith, better equipped to serve you and to know you better.

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Help us to that, Lord, to that end. In Jesus' name, amen. Well, let's turn in our

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Bibles to Luke chapter one. This is the third

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Lord's Day in which we're in this study of the gospel of Luke.

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Just again, by way of reminder, because of this virus that has afflicted our church this last week, we are gonna not have our fellowship meal that we normally have after church every

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Sunday. We'll not have it today or next Lord's Day. Well, last

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Lord's Day, we examined the announcement of John's birth, John the

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Baptist, the forerunner of the Messiah. The angel

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Gabriel had come to Zacharias, and commonly, he's referred to as Zachariah in some translations.

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Gabriel came to Zacharias in a very dramatic fashion in the temple, the center of Jewish attention.

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And the eyes and ears of all Judah were fixed on what God was about to do. But the annunciation of the birth of the

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Messiah himself would not be in the same manner. Far off from Jerusalem, in little obscure Nazareth of backward

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Galilee, that was the attitude of the Jewish leaders toward that place. The same angel

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Gabriel, who had appeared to Zacharias six months before, now appears to this unmarried virgin and in solitude declares to her the news of the miraculous birth of the

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Savior that she was gonna bring into the world. And so here in Luke one, verse 26 and following, we have the birth of Jesus foretold.

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Now in the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was

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Joseph of the house of David. The virgin's name was Mary, and having come in, the angel said to her, rejoice, highly favored one.

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The Lord is with you. Blessed are you among women. But when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying and considered what manner of greeting this was.

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And then the angel said to her, do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.

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And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a son and shall call his name

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Jesus. He will be great and will be called the son of the highest.

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And the Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever.

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And of his kingdom, there will be no end. And Mary said to the angel, how can this be since I do not know a man?

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And the angel answered and said to her, the Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the highest will overshadow you.

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And therefore also that holy one who is to be born will be called the son of God. Now indeed,

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Elizabeth, your relative, has also conceived a son in her old age. And this is now the sixth month for her who is called barren.

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For with God, nothing will be impossible. And then Mary said, behold, the maid servant of the

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Lord, let it be to me according to your word. And the angel departed from her.

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Let's consider first Luke's introduction to this event. We read the angel

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Gabriel is once again the bearer of news from God that an event would soon transpire through which

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God would bring salvation to his people. Again, verses 26 and 27 read, now in the sixth month, the angel

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Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was

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Joseph of the house of David. The virgin's name was Mary. Now last week, we said little of Gabriel.

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He appeared to Zacharias there in the holy place of the temple in Jerusalem.

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Six months before this occasion that we just read about. Gabriel, of course, was one of myriads of angels that God had created in the beginning.

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There are two sorts of creatures that God made, mankind and angels.

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Perhaps one third of the original heavenly host of angels rebelled against their maker, choosing to align and serve

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Satan. Incredibly. But of all the multitudes of angels, only two angels are known by name in the holy scriptures that mean

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Michael and Gabriel. Michael is mentioned five times in the scriptures.

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Gabriel is named on four occasions. The name

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Gabriel means man of God or mighty one of God or mighty is

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God. Gabriel was actually first introduced in the book of Daniel.

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It was Gabriel who had come to Daniel to reveal to him that 490 years, 70 weeks of years would transpire before the

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Messiah would appear to redeem his people and establish his kingdom. And here in Luke's infancy narrative,

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Gabriel first appeared to Zacharias to announce the birth of the forerunner of the Messiah and then appears here to Mary to inform her of her virgin birth of the

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Messiah. As one wrote, the great moment for which all preceding generations have been waiting has finally arrived.

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The Messiah is about to appear and Gabriel has been ordered to announce his imminent arrival and arrival by means of conception and birth.

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There's quite a difference in the place and the manner that Gabriel came as God's messenger on these two occasions.

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The first was in a very conspicuous manner to a priest performing a prominent service before many people in the temple in Jerusalem, the center of the world to the

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Jews. The second, the one before us was an obscure, rather remote village of Galilee, a single young virgin, an encounter unseen and unknown to anyone but her.

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And yet even Zacharias, we should remember, as we indicated last week, would not have been a highly placed or highly regarded man within the minds of the established

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Jewish leadership, the hierarchy. And certainly the idea of the

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Messiah being born to one of no consequence in Nazareth of Galilee would have been repugnant to the social and religious establishment.

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The following narrative is how the Jewish establishment would have regarded the events as they had unfolded at the beginning of this gospel.

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These are the words of Alfred Edersheim. They born into a

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Jewish family, raised as a Jewish man and was converted to Christ and wrote one of the best excerpts of the

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Bible. Expositions of the life of Jesus of Nazareth, the life and times of Jesus, the

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Messiah. He wrote these words. It is necessary here to recall our general impression of rabbinism, and you can see the word rabbi in there.

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He's talking about the rabbi's religion of Israel at the time in the first century.

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It's conception of God and of the highest good and ultimate object of all things as concentrated in learned study.

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That was their focus. Pursued in academies. And then to think of the unmitigated contempt with which they were wont to speak of Galilee and the

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Galileans, who's very patois, in other words, dialect, was an offense.

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Of the utter abhorrence of which they regarded the unlettered country people in order to realize how such a household as that of Joseph and Mary would be regarded by the leaders of Israel.

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A messianic announcement, not the result of learned investigation, nor connected with the academies, but in the sanctuary to a rustic priest, that's how he was regarded, he was an older man.

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An Elijah, unable to untie the intellectual and ecclesiastical knots of whose mission, indeed, this formed no part at all.

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And a Messiah, the offspring of a virgin in Galilee, betrothed to a humble workman, assuredly such a picture of the fulfillment of Israel's hope could never have been conceived by contemporary

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Judaism. There was in such a Messiah absolutely nothing, past, present, or possible, intellectually, religiously, or even nationally to attract, but all to repel.

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And so we can, at the very outset of this history, understand the infinite contrast which it embodied with all the difficulties of its reception, even to those who became disciples.

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As at almost every step of its progress, they were, with ever fresh surprise, recalled from all that they had formerly thought to that which was so entirely new and strange.

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The Lord Jesus came in a world in a manner not expected and not appreciated, if it was made known.

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We see in verse 27 that Gabriel was sent to a virgin, betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, and this man was of the house of David.

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And Mary was betrothed, or espoused, or engaged, to a man named Joseph.

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Now, the marriage procedure in that Jewish culture was different from what we're accustomed to. It was custom, for the engagement or betrothal period of the

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Jews in the ancient world was much, much more formal and legal. The young man and woman would meet together in the company of witnesses, being both families, close friends.

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They openly pledged themselves to one another. The dowry of the bride would be declared and pledged by the girl's father and family, and then the pronouncement of blessing would be given, and then the ceremony concluded with a shared cup of wine by the couple.

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And from that moment, Mary would be the betrothed wife of Joseph. Their relationship regarded as sacred, as if already married.

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And this betrothal relationship could only be severed through formal divorce proceedings. And so, being engaged, they would live apart from one another until that time, perhaps months later, when

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Joseph, when his father indicated to him, Joseph would come in the night to Mary's father's house and escort her to his own house, where the marriage would then be consummated.

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Mary was betrothed to Joseph, who was identified to be of the house of David. Later, we'll read of the genealogy of Jesus, which traces his lineage back through history through King David.

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Joseph would be in the legal or kingly line of David. Joseph being the husband of Mary and the legal father of Jesus, though not his biological father, would qualify

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Jesus to become the legitimate king of Israel, the son of David. And of this verse, it's been said, it is meant to show how

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Jesus was the son of David through Joseph as his legal father. Luke stated the virgin's name was

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Mary. There are, of course, a number of Marys in the New Testament. This Mary is mentioned a number of times in Luke's gospel, but only once in Luke's writings in the book of Acts, and that's in the first chapter of Acts.

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And so, this Mary's name, the mother of Jesus, is only to be found in the four gospels and once at the beginning of the book of Acts.

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Her name, Mary, is not named in the remainder of the New Testament. That's interesting when you consider how some have so exalted

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Mary, they even declare her to be the queen of heaven. There's an absence of her name after Acts chapter one.

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Well, now we read the pronouncement of blessing upon Mary, verses 28 through 30. Having come in, the angel said to her, rejoice, highly favored one, the

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Lord is with you. Blessed are you among women. But when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying and considered what manner of greeting this was.

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And then the angel said to her, do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. So, the first words of Gabriel to Mary were words of blessing, rejoice, highly favored one.

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And from his very first greeting, the angel intimates that she has been one who had been chosen by God to be unusually blessed.

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God's grace would be shown to her in a marvelous fashion. God determined that he would use her, this young, pure virgin.

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He highly favored her with his grace. She was a young, holy, innocent woman of holy character.

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The Lord was with her. She was a godly woman. And God had been with her, watching her approvingly and preserving her properly.

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Gabriel said to her, blessed are you among women. Appreciated the statement of Matthew Henry at this point.

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We have here an account given of the mother of our Lord, of whom he was born, whom though we are not to pray to, yet we ought to praise

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God for. I thought that was a good statement. And so Mary is set forth as one who's dignified and that she was highly favored.

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The presence of God was with her and his blessing was upon her. She was a godly young lady who would be the best of mothers to the son of the highest.

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But what a sad and unfortunate teaching that Roman Catholics have done with the words of Luke 127.

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Instead of reading, rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you. Blessed are you among women.

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The Catholic Bible translates this verse in this way. Hail, full of grace. The Lord is with thee.

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Blessed art thou among women. Instead of Mary being set forth as the object and recipient of God's grace,

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Rome sets forth Mary as the possessor and the dispenser of God's grace.

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They teach that grace is a substance and that Mary was filled with grace so as to enable her to become herself a distributor of grace to others at her own will.

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No such interpretation may be taken from this text. Rather, it must be imposed upon it.

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And that's what the Roman Catholic translation does. For it's clear this declaration signifies that she's a chosen object of divine favor.

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God was gonna use her to bring the Messiah into the world. Rome has wrongly infused

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Mary with divine attributes, though she is but a fallen human being who herself needed a savior.

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As she declared in verse 47, they claim that she is omniscient as God is omniscient.

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After all, she's all knowing for she can hear the prayers and know the hearts of all prayers of everybody all over the world.

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Offered to her by Catholics in all places at all times. Why, she must have the divine attribute of omniscience.

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They claim that she is sovereign as God is sovereign. That is, she's all powerful for she has the ability to answer prayers offered to her.

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Much of the rosary is prayers to Mary. That she can perform miracles if she wills to do so.

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They claim that Mary is a co -savior, a co -redemptrix with her son, for she is able to grant empowering grace to those who look to her in faith.

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And oftentimes, Mary is exalted above her son. Frequently in the cathedrals of Germany where you have these very elaborate painted ceilings of heavenly scenes.

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It's very common to have Mary sitting on the throne, Jesus Christ, her son standing next to her, and he's got a crown ready to crown his mother as the queen of heaven.

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It's blasphemous. There's no suggestion of that in the Bible. They infuse

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Mary with divine attributes. We would argue that this is crass idolatry.

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Born out of tradition, not the Bible. Mary was a woman, granted a holy woman, one greatly blessed of God, but she was but a woman.

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And moreover, the Lord Jesus declared that he regarded every one of his disciples as his true mother and brothers.

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In other words, to Jesus, his disciples have a higher and deeper relationship with him than his own family after the flesh.

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It's in Luke's gospel, we'll come across it one day. You know, certain ones in the crowd said, your mother, your brothers wanna see you.

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Who are my mothers and brothers? These who hear the word of God and do it. The same as my mother and my brothers.

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We have a relationship with God through Jesus Christ that is of a higher and nobler kind than Mary as his earthly mother, as rich and noble as that was.

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We don't in any way denigrate it. We have a wonderful privilege and position in Christ.

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Well, let's consider the words of Gabriel in Luke 128. Gabriel declared to Mary, the

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Lord is with you. What a tremendous declaration this is. The Lord is with you.

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Wouldn't you like to hear those words? The Lord is with you. It was actually an expression commonly used in Old Testament times, and it was often declared by God upon a person whom he was gonna use to do some significant great feat, and divine assistance was needed.

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It was intended to give comfort and encouragement to the one addressed, as in the expression, fear not,

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I am with thee. We see in verse 29 that the angel's pronouncement had unsettled her, but when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and considered what manner of greeting this was.

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That's a subtle narrative point of emphasis there. Now, I'm sure the angel's very appearance startled her, and his presence unsettled her.

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Why, even the sudden appearance of a person sometimes startles us if we're not expecting it, or it comes in a strange fashion.

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But it's interesting here that it was the angel's words that troubled her, not his appearance.

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Although I'm sure that had quite an effect upon her. Why was this?

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Well, perhaps for what it suggests regarding Mary's character, this reveals a measure of humility on her part.

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There was a depreciation of herself in her own sight as to her worthiness to be so blessed. She responded in a way that perhaps many would do so in her situation with surprise, wonderment, and certainly puzzlement.

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But then the assurance comes in verse 30. Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.

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Although she was a fallen, sinful human being like all of Adam's race, nevertheless, she had been chosen to be the instrument of God's work.

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The stress here is on God's choice, not her worthiness. Now, this is not a day where we're picking on Roman Catholicism, but the issue rises here too.

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We've already said a word against the Roman Catholic era of Mariology, worshiping Mary rather than God alone.

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But because we're speaking of Mary, the mother of our Lord, we should also take time and make the effort to repudiate the

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Roman Catholic teaching of the Immaculate Conception. Many wrongly believe, and even

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Roman Catholics are mistaken about this, that the Immaculate Conception is the doctrine of the virgin birth of Jesus by Mary.

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The Immaculate Conception has nothing to do with the virgin birth of Jesus. Rome teaches that in order for Jesus to have been born into this world without sin, his mother,

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Mary, must also have been born without sin. And so this is what's called the doctrine of Immaculate Conception.

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It's speaking about Mary's conception in her mother's womb. There's no biblical basis for this teaching.

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It's a false teaching. Now, the teaching that Mary herself was sinless dates back to about the fourth century.

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But her Immaculate Conception as a formal Roman Catholic doctrine was not acknowledged and declared officially by the

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Catholics until 1854. And we would say that despite the claim of a so -called apparition to Bernadette in 1858, at which time the lady supposedly declared,

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I am the Immaculate Conception, affirming the papal doctrine, we would say the teaching is not found in the scriptures and therefore is not of God.

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It's a great error. It's nowhere taught in the Bible. And there are other errors that are taught by Rome regarding Mary, such as her perpetual virginity.

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But we'll address that on another occasion. It's gonna come up too, as we consider the Gospel of Luke.

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Well, let's consider the angel's announcement of the birth of her child, verse 31. Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a son and she'll call his name

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Jesus. Mary would have a son, although she was a virgin. Although Isaiah 7 .14

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is not mentioned directly by Luke, Luke's language suggested in Mary those words of the prophet would find fulfillment.

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It read, behold, a virgin shall conceive, bear a son, shall call his name Immanuel. The name

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Immanuel means God with us. Mary's son would be her son, but also

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God's son. In Jesus, God is with us, that is with the human race in this fallen world.

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Mary was to call her son by the name of Jesus. It was customary for the father to name the son.

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Perhaps that Mary names the child is another indication that Joseph was not the natural father. God was the child's father.

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God named the son. You shall call him, name him Jesus. The name

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Jesus corresponds to the Hebrew Yeshua or Joshua, meaning

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Jehovah is salvation. It was a common Jewish name up until the second century AD when both

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Jewish and Christian, Jews and Christians, ceased to call their names, their sons by that name.

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Gabriel was announcing to Mary that it would be through her son that God would secure the salvation of his people.

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And now we have a description of the character of her son. Verses 32 and 33.

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He will be great and will be called the son of the highest. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father

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David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.

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The angel said of Jesus, he will be great. How can you explain it?

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I sat there, he will be great. How do I embellish this? So I resorted to some sources

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I had. Matthew Henry wrote simply, he shall be great, truly great, incontestably great.

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Amen. Interestingly, by the way, Gabriel has said to Zacharias that his son

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John would also be great. He'll be great in the sight of the

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Lord. John Calvin put this in perspective, however. The angel had said the same thing about John the

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Baptist, and yet did not intend to make him equal to Christ. But the Baptist is great in his own class.

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Well, the greatness of Christ is immediately explained to be such as raises him above all creatures.

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For to him alone, this belongs as his own peculiar prerogative to be called the son of God. And so the apostle argues.

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Yes, they're both great. But Jesus, of course, is infinitely so.

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John Gill, he pastored the Baptist Church in London 100 years before Spurgeon became its pastor.

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He's one of the last men to write a full commentary on every book of the Bible, and it's online.

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He tended to be quite verbose. He was self -taught, by the way. He'd go down to the bookstore and pick up books off the shelf and read them.

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And he taught himself Hebrew, going down to the bookstore and reading Hebrew books. And he became a

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Hebraic scholar. He was very, very informed in everything Jewish. But he wrote about this expression, he shall be great, in his person as God -man, his child born and son given, being the angel of the great council, the mighty

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God, the everlasting Father, which is here referred to. And in his offices, in his prophetic office, being that great and famous prophet

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Moses spoke of, mighty in word and deed, in his doctrine and miracles. In his priestly office, being a great high priest, both in the oblation, sacrifice of himself, and in his prevalent intercession.

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And in his kingly office, being the king of kings and Lord of lords, and in the whole of his office as mediator, being a great savior, the author of a great salvation for sinners, in which is greatly displayed the glory of all the divine perfections.

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Great also in his works, the miracles that he wrought, as proofs of his deity and messiahship, the work of redemption, the resurrection of himself from the dead, and all men at the last day, and in the glory is now possessed of in human nature at the

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Father's right hand, where he's highly exalted above all principality and power. Those are his words on he shall be great.

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Gabriel also had said of this great son that he will be called the son of the highest. The highest, or most high, is a synonym for God.

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The Hebrews avoided saying, or even writing the word God, because of their reverence for him.

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And so they would use other words to express his person. And so Matthew, for example, uses the expression kingdom of heaven.

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The parallel in Mark or Luke reads the kingdom of God. Matthew is writing to a

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Jewish audience, and so he'd be reserved in using the name of God, because it was regarded as so holy.

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This expression used by Luke, the son of the highest, of course, speaks of the deity of Jesus Christ.

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Although he would be the son of Mary, he would also be the son of God. Here, therefore, we have set forth the doctrine of the incarnation, which asserts that the son of God was conceived in the womb of Mary, and that Jesus is truly

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God and truly man. Notice it does not say he will become the son of God, but he will be called the son of God.

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He would come to be known and regarded as the son of God. Jesus Christ is the eternal son of God, who took upon himself our human nature, but without sin, revealing himself to us as the eternal son of God.

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People who come to see that, he'll be called the son of God. There was never a time when he became the son of God.

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He's the eternal son of God, begotten from eternity, is how it's usually depicted or described.

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There was never a time that he was actually begotten, but rather he's eternally begotten.

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This statement, he'll be called the son of the highest, not only speaks to his identity, but also intimates of his relationship with his father.

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Because he's the son of the highest, he's in a unique and close relationship with his father.

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And it also betrays the fact that he has the character of his father. And certainly it suggests that he would enjoy the favor of his father, wherever he would be and whatever he would do.

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And also it intimates or suggests that he will accomplish the will and purpose of his father as a dutiful son.

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And then Gabriel said of this son that the Lord God will give him the throne of his father, David. This reveals his son of Mary would have two fathers.

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God was his eternal father, but King David would be his father according to his human nature.

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As a son of David, he was in the royal line that God promised to King David to bless with an eternal kingdom.

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Here are God's words to King David. When your days are fulfilled, you rest with your fathers.

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I will set up your seed or descend it after you. Who will come from your body, I will establish his kingdom.

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He shall build a house for my name. And I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.

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I will be his father, he shall be my son. And your house, David's house, and your kingdom shall be established forever before you.

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Your throne shall be established forever. Now in the context, he's referring to both

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David's son, Solomon, but ultimately and finally to Jesus Christ, the son of David.

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And so clearly what Gabriel declared to Mary was that her son was God's promise of the son who was a descendant of King David who would be installed over the promised messianic kingdom of God, promised to King David in the

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Old Testament scriptures. Now believe it or not, that statement, which is biblical and clear and forthright, would be argued against in most evangelical quarters today.

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It could be said that this was one of the chief purposes of the Gospels, to reveal that Jesus of Nazareth, the eternal son of God, who is truly

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God, whom God sent into the world to save sinners and bring them into his promised kingdom. Here again are the words of Alfred Ederschein.

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We feel that the scantiness of particulars here supplied by the Gospels was intended to prevent the human interest from overshadowing the grand central fact to which alone attention was to be directed, for the design of the

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Gospels was manifestly not to furnish a biography of Jesus the Messiah, but in organic connection with the

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Old Testament to tell the history of the long promised establishment of the kingdom of God on earth.

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And if that last statement in the text, that Jesus was the promised Messiah, would not establish the messianic kingdom, would not abundantly clear in its meaning, he immediately states the matter in other words.

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In verse 33, it reads, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.

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This declaration of the angel of Gabriel has great significance in our understanding of this church age, the end of history, and of the eternal state.

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The Bible speaks of but one promised kingdom over which Jesus Christ would rule forever, reign forever, one kingdom.

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The prophet Daniel foretold of this messianic kingdom that would be established in the days of the fourth kingdom, he listed four world empires, and the fourth kingdom was the

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Roman Empire. And Daniel wrote, and in the days of these kings, the

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God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed, and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever.

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This is not talking about the second coming of Christ, it's talking about his resurrection from the dead, his ascension into heaven, and his enthronement at the right hand of God the

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Father. This was realized upon the resurrection of Christ from the dead, when he ascended into heaven where the

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God -man was made the sovereign king over the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God was inaugurated.

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Jesus now is Lord of lords and king of kings. He is the son of David, reigning and ruling in the kingdom of God.

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That was Peter's message on the day of Pentecost. And later,

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Daniel foretold the coming of the risen Jesus Christ, coming unto his Father in heaven to receive authority over the promised kingdom.

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Daniel 7, 13 and 14. Daniel says, I was watching in the night visions and behold one like the son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven.

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Now many people think this is a prophecy of the second coming, it's not. It doesn't speak about him coming to the earth.

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He came to the ancient of days. This son of man is coming to God the

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Father, the ancient of days. And they brought him near before him. Revelation 5 speaks about this.

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And then to him was given dominion and glory in a kingdom. That scroll that he took out of the

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Father's hand was his authority to rule as king of kings and Lord of lords. Dominion and glory in a kingdom that all people's nations and languages should serve him.

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His dominion is an everlasting dominion which will not pass away. And his kingdom, the one which shall not be destroyed.

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Isaiah, of course, wrote frequently of this everlasting kingdom. Perhaps most well known is Isaiah 9.

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For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government will be upon his shoulder.

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His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace, there will be no end.

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Upon the throne of David and over his kingdom to order it and establish it with judgment and justice from that time forward even forever and the zeal of the

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Lord of hosts will perform this. And this is what happened through the

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Lord Jesus Christ living, died, being raised, being enthroned in heaven.

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Jesus Christ is Lord. Well, Luke 137, we read this promised kingdom is referred to as the house of Jacob.

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In other words, Israel. Israel is another name for Jacob. God renamed Jacob Israel.

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There's no hint or suggestion that there are two different or distinct kingdoms promised in the scripture.

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And yet this is the common teaching. One being the kingdom of God, which all believers in Jesus Christ are citizens, but another being the kingdom of Israel comprised of Jewish people who believe on Jesus as their

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Messiah. And yet this is the very common teaching. God has promised two kingdoms.

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One, the kingdom of God and Jesus is Lord of that, but he's not yet reigning as the son of David.

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That won't happen till a future thousand year Jewish millennium on earth. But the

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Bible teaches that there is but one kingdom over which Jesus Christ reigns forever. John Gil wrote of these words on verse 37, he shall reign over the house of Jacob, not over the

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Jews, the posterity of Jacob in a literal sense, but over the whole Israel of God consisting of Jews and Gentiles.

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For as his father, David reigned over the Edomians and Syrians and others, as well as over the house of Judah and Israel.

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So this his son shall reign over both Jews and Gentiles. His kingdom shall be from one end of the earth to the other, even over all the elect of God, who in successive generations call themselves by the name of Jacob and surname themselves by the name of Israel of whatever nation they may be.

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And this reign of his shall be forever. And if his kingdom there should be no end, he shall reign in the hearts of his people here onto the end of the world and with his saints and the new heavens and the new earth and with them to all eternity and ultimate glory.

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There's one promised everlasting kingdom. And that was inaugurated by Jesus Christ through his life, death, burial, resurrection, ascension and enthronement.

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We see it now with the eye of faith. One day, every eye will see it when

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Jesus Christ returns. Matthew Henry made these comments on this verse that his kingdom shall be spiritual.

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See others say that he'll reign over the house of Jacob. That's not spiritual, that's literal and physical. No, Matthew Henry made a point.

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His kingdom shall be spiritual. He shall reign over the house of Jacob, not Israel according to the flesh.

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For they neither came into his interest nor did they continue long a people. It must therefore be a spiritual kingdom.

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The house of Israel according to the promise that he must rule over, that it shall be eternal.

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He shall forever and his kingdom shall be, there shall be no end as there has been long since the temporal reign of David's house.

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Other crowns endure not to every generation, but Christ doth. The gospel is the last dispensation.

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We are to look for no other. And yet this teaching of only one eternal kingdom of Jesus Christ is not commonly taught in today's evangelical world.

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They argue that Gabriel's statement, he will reign over the house of Jacob forever and of his kingdom there'll be no end is a prophecy of a future

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Jewish kingdom in a millennium. That it refers to political and national state of Israel, not to the

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New Testament church. We would argue that that's wrong. William Hendrickson rightly said of Gabriel's words, it should be unnecessary.

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I wish that were the case. It should be unnecessary to state that according to our Lord's own explanation, it's not an earthly or political kingdom that's in view here, but rather the kingdom or rule of grace and truth established in the hearts and lives of all those who have the

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God of Jacob as their refuge. In the words of the apostle Paul, this kingdom is one of righteousness and peace and joy in the

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Holy Spirit. Its ultimate manifestation will be the new heavens and earth and all the blessings that go with this gloriously renewed universe.

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But in contrast to what Hendrickson rightly wrote, here are the words say of Charles Ryrie on Gabriel's words, he will reign over the house of Jacob forever and of his kingdom there will be no end.

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And this is in his Ryrie study Bible. As the Davidic Messiah, Jesus will reign over the house of Jacob, which will happen in the millennial kingdom.

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This promise is not now being fulfilled simply because the church is not the house of Jacob. And Christ is presently at the right hand of the father, which is never equated to the throne of David.

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That's a denial of Peter's sermon on the day of Pentecost, Acts chapter two, because that's exactly what

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Peter declared. David's tomb is sitting over here, but the prophecy that his body would not see corruption was given to David's son,

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Jesus Christ, that he rose up and he's enthroned in heaven. Jesus Christ is presently reigning on the throne of David.

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When David was reigning on his throne in Jerusalem, he was reigning on behalf of God, his father.

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He was doing the will of his father in the nation of Israel. And Jesus Christ now is sitting on that throne, now ruling over the kingdom of God over this entire world on behalf of his father in heaven.

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He is the son of David who is presently enthroned. We don't have time to point out all the errors that set forth in these few sentences by Ryrie, but dispensationalists claiming to interpret the

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Bible literally tend to see two distinct things in scripture when one is intended.

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They believe that God has promised in his word two everlasting thrones, the throne of David and the throne of the

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Lord Jesus. They teach that there are two everlasting kingdoms, the kingdom of Israel and the kingdom of God.

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Some say there will be two everlasting kings, King David and the Lord Jesus on his throne.

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But it's quite clear that the scriptures speak of one everlasting kingdom with one eternal king.

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And that was promised to David, fulfilled in David's son, even the Lord Jesus.

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And that's what Gabriel declared to Mary. Before we leave this important word that Mary's son would reign over the house of Jacob, I wish to consider

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John Calvin's explanation. I found this very clear and very true. As salvation was promised in a peculiar manner, special manner to the

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Jews, the covenant having been made with their father Abraham and Christ, as Paul informs us, was a minister of the circumcision.

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In other words, minister to the Jews. The angel properly fixed his reign in that nation as a peculiar seat and residence.

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He's gonna reign over Jacob. But this is in perfect accordance with other predictions which spread and extend the kingdom of Christ to the utmost limits of the earth.

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By a new and wonderful adoption, God has admitted into the family of Jacob, the Gentiles, who formerly were strangers, though in such a manner that the

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Jews as the firstborn held a preferable rank. As it is said, the Lord shall send the rod of thy strength out of Zion.

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Christ's throne was therefore erected among the people of Israel, that he might then subdue the whole world.

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All whom he has joined by faith to the children of Abraham are accounted the true Israel.

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Though the Jews by their revolt have separated themselves from the church of God, yet the Lord will always preserve till the end some remnants.

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In other words, a Jewish remnant to become Christian for his calling is without repentances. The body of the people is apparently cut off, but we ought to remember the mystery of which

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Paul speaks, that God will at length gather some of the Jews out of the dispersion. And meanwhile, the church which is scattered through the whole world is the spiritual house of Jacob, for it drew its origin from Jacob.

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There's one kingdom of God, and it's ruled, reigned over by the son of David, who's also the son of God.

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Well, Mary's question and Gabriel's explanation of how our conception would occur, verse 34,

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Mary asked a question. Mary said to the angel, how can this be since I do not know a man?

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How can this be since I'm a virgin? How can I have this child? Now, when the angel

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Gabriel told Zacharias that his elderly wife Elizabeth would bear a son, he asked Gabriel in unbelief how he would know this would occur.

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And you remember the judgment. Zacharias was struck dumb.

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He couldn't speak until John the Baptist was born nine months later. But Mary asked her question out of unbelief as Zacharias, but rather out of serious inquiry.

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It was a legitimate question. How's this gonna happen, not having known a man? As one wrote, it will be recalled that when

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Gabriel had told Zacharias that the latter's wife Elizabeth would have a son, the priest answered, how can

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I be sure of this? His response amounted to, I can't believe it. Mary, on the other hand, is not guilty of lack of faith.

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She believes, according to verse 45, but she's befuddled, bewildered, mystified.

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She has correctly interpreted the angel's message to mean that without the assistance of a husband, she's about to conceive a child.

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So far, so good, but how is this possible? Among human conception without insemination was unheard of.

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Well, Gabriel answered her that it would be a supernatural conception. It would be the work of the

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Holy Spirit enabling her to conceive. Verse 35, the angel answered, said to her, the

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Holy Spirit will come upon you. The power of the highest will overshadow you, and therefore also the

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Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God. There's no suggestion here of intermingling in a manner that is often found in ancient pagan religions.

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Although the ancient world had stories of God's bearing children with women, there's no suggestion here of physical relations to bring about Mary's conception.

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The Holy Spirit, who is said in parallel with the power of the highest, is the agent that may be described as a conception appropriate in the new creation.

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As the Holy Spirit hovered over the waters, Genesis 1 and 2, in the creation, the

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Holy Spirit is hovering over Mary, and life is created, human life.

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The Holy Spirit, agent of the creative power of God, would accomplish this. That the

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Holy Spirit would come upon her is how the Holy Spirit is depicted on the day of Pentecost. Jesus told his disciples, you shall receive power when the

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Holy Spirit has come upon you. Same word. And you shall be witnesses to me in Jerusalem and all

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Judea, Samaria, and to the end of the earth. And so as the presence and power of God, the shekinah glory of God hovered over the tabernacle in Old Testament times, where the presence of God was manifested, so Mary would have the glory of God covering her, overshadowing her, for within her womb is the

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Son of God himself. For that reason, the Holy Offspring shall be called the Son of God. And so here, the deity of the

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Lord Jesus is expressed in very clear terms. Jesus Christ is the only begotten of the

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Son of his Father. They are of one essence. He would indeed be a human being born of a virgin, but divine as well, born of a virgin due to the power of God.

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But this would not be an ordinary son to Mary. Yes, he is fully human, but not having a human father who would be born without a sinful nature.

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He would be from birth, holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners. As Calvin wrote,

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Christ, exempt from the common lot of men, is alone, free from every sin. Hence, in him alone is found real holiness and innocency, for he's not said to be separate from us because he repels us from his society, but because he has this excellency above us all, that he's free from every uncleanness.

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And then the episode concludes with Gabriel assuring Mary that this would be accomplished. He gave

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Mary a confirming sign. Now indeed, Elizabeth, your relative, has also conceived a sign in her old age, and this is now the sixth month for her, who is called barren.

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The next episode, two weeks from now, will address how Mary goes to visit Elizabeth.

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It was a sign to her. And then the assertions were with God, nothing would be impossible. If God can enable an old barren woman, unable to conceive, humanly speaking, to bear a child, he can cause a young virgin to conceive though humanly impossible.

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And this apparently satisfied Mary. In humility and wonderment, she received this message.

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Then Mary said, behold, the maidservant of the Lord, let it be to me according to your word, and then the angel departed from her.

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She could not have imagined all the events and consequences that she would experience over the next nine months, but she entrusted herself to God to care for her and direct her in accomplishing his will.

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This is a rich passage, and sometimes the language of these birth narratives are so familiar to us that we don't see the importance of certain phrases and clauses, but it's important that we do so, amen?

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Let's pray. Thank you, Father, for your word and for the details that you do give us.

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Help us, our God, to restrict ourselves to believing your word as truth alone and not allow us, our

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Lord, to be caught up, deceived by traditions that have floated through the centuries and become embellished and passed on, embraced, and believed.

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We believe your word, our God, the word that you moved Luke to record for us here in his gospel.

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Help us to take it to heart and help us, our God, to be compliant as Mary was to your word, and help us, our

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God, also to have the kind of character that she's depicted as having, as being pure and holy and devout, and we do pray, our

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God, that it could be said of us that your presence is with us. We know that this is true with every true child of God.

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The Lord Jesus himself said, "'I'll never leave you to forsake you,' but help us, our God, to sense his presence with us, that we would never feel ourselves to be alone and isolated from you, but that wherever we are, our

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God, whether it be in a crowd or alone, that we'll have a sense of your presence with us.