A Necessary Doctrine - Luke 1:26–38

What are the necessary doctrines of the Christian faith? What beliefs are essential for a follower of Jesus Christ? Certainly there are many, but among them is belief in the virgin birth of Jesus. 

All around town this time of year, we see nativity scenes depicting the night of Jesus’ birth. It looks like a typical birth: mother, father, and child. But it was not typical. Both the Old and New Testaments of Scripture teach that Jesus Christ was conceived not by Mary and Joseph, but rather, by the power of the Holy Spirit of God in the womb of the virgin Mary. 

This truth can be either hard to grasp or easily taken for granted. But without it, the Christian faith falls apart, and by overlooking it we can forfeit the great sense of wonder, hope, and peace that the doctrine provides. Followers of Jesus should meditate on it. 

But as we do that, a natural question arises: why was it necessary for Jesus to enter our world in this way? Embedded in these verses of Luke’s gospel are statements that speak to that question. You find them outlined for you on page 6 in the WG. Through the virgin birth, God supplied two things: our divine King who reigns permanently and our spotless Lamb who redeems perfectly. We need both for our salvation. The virgin birth of God’s Son was the only way.

Now, just before these verses in Luke 1, the angel Gabriel visits Zechariah, who would be the father of John the Baptist. Gabriel tells Zechariah that he and his wife Elizabeth will have a baby boy. The couple was older and had never been able to have children. Mary, on the other hand, was very young. She was soon to be married, engaged in fact. 

And then “In the sixth month,” the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, Gabriel visits Mary. Verse 26 says he, “was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed.” Betrothal was more than modern engagement. It was a legal agreement that required a divorce to break. She was betrothed to “a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David.” Joseph was a descendant of the late King David. Mary had David in her family tree as well.

For Jews, the name of David recalled the glory days of Israel, when they were a free nation. But more importantly, the prophets foretold that the Messiah would come from the line of David. Isaiah wrote, [1] There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse [David’s father], and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit. [2] And the Spirit of Yahweh shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of Yahweh. [3] And his delight shall be in the fear of Yahweh. He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide disputes by what his ears hear, [4] but with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; and he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked. [5] Righteousness shall be the belt of his waist, and faithfulness the belt of his loins.”

By the time Jesus was born, David’s family had been displaced from royalty. King Herod was a phony king installed by the Romans. He did not descend from Jacob, who was later called Israel. Herod descended from Esau, Jacob’s brother. Like Cain and Abel, Jacob and Esau descended from the same mother physically, but spiritually they were different. Jacob knew God; Esau did not. It was a tragedy that one of Esau’s descendants ruled over the descendants of Jacob. And so the Jews who were faithful to the Scriptures longed for and waited for the promised King who would descend from David and fulfill God’s promises. Jesus is that Savior King. 

Gabriel appears to Mary and says, verse 28, “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!” This has been wrongly interpreted within the Roman Catholic church. When they say, “Hail Mary full of grace, the Lord is with thee,” they take this to mean that original sin was removed from Mary at the time of her conception. That goes way too far. 

What you see here is a correct translation and interpretation. Mary remained a sinner. We do not and should not worship Mary. We do not venerate her; to do so requires that we shift our worship from Christ to Mary. Gabriel simply states that Mary is blessed by God. 

Verse [29] But she was greatly troubled at the saying,” perhaps by the honor she is shown, “and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be.” Mary did not yet understand why she was receiving this heavenly visitation. She was a regular person, and she knew it. Verse [30] And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. Apparently she needed to be reassured that this was a good visitation. She was not in trouble.

Gabriel says, [31] And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son.” Now, she was to be married, but this describes conception before the marriage. “And you shall call his name Jesus.” Jesus is the Greek form of the Hebrew name “Joshua” which means “Yahweh saves.” Joshua led Israel after the death of Moses. He famously led the Israelites into the Promised Land and held a role much like the role of king that David would later hold. 

Notice again verse 32. Gabriel says Jesus, “will be great,” meaning he will have authority. He will be distinguished and “will be called the Son of the Most High.”The Son of Yahweh, the one true God. “And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, [33] and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” David descended from Seth, the son given to Adam and Eve to replace their murdered son Abel. God had promised that from Eve would come One who would defeat Satan. It could be no normal man. Note here that for Jesus to have a never-ending kingdom, He must have a never-ending life. His life and His kingdom would not be only of this world. They would transcend this life and this world.

What kind of ruler would a king like that need to be? He would never be overthrown; He would never need to be replaced. I read earlier from Isaiah 11, which said all His ways would be righteous. This is interesting because there was already a king like this. Psalm 47 says, “God is the King of all the earth.” Long before the birth of Jesus, the Israelites wanted a king. God instructed the prophet Samuel to appoint a king for them, and he also says, “They have rejected me from being king over them.” They rejected God as King, but in His mercy and grace, God is sending them a King. He is sending them Himself. 

Only God can reign over God’s kingdom. This child would need to be completely God, truly God, not partly God. But to sit on the throne of David, he would also need to be a man. Truly a man. You see, through the virgin birth, God supplied our divine King who reigns permanently.

The Lord Jesus who slept in His mother’s arms was fully God and fully human. He is the victorious King, and we must surrender to Him. Our King won the battle against sin and death through His death and resurrection, and like an ancient king returning with the spoils of victory, Jesus returned with gifts for His people. The NT describes the gift. When Jesus won the victory, Acts 5 says, “God exalted him at his right hand as Leader and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins.” How could Jesus forgive sins? Because He is God.

You must surrender your whole life to Jesus, our God and King. What is the King calling you to surrender today? What must you lay at the King’s feet? He our divine King who reigns permanently, but also, our spotless Lamb who redeems perfectly.

Look at these next verses. Mary is amazed. She will give birth to the eternal King, God’s Son. But she has a question, verse [34] Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?” Notice that Mary doesn’t assume that the child will come after her marriage to Joseph. Her words indicate that she understood Gabriel to say that she would conceive apart from normal human circumstances. 

Of course, if Mary and Joseph conceive the child, He would be Joseph’s son. Verse [35] And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you;” The Holy Spirit of God would exert His divine power on her womb.

In recent months, we’ve seen the Spirit’s power on display in the book of Genesis. Before the creation began, Genesis says the Spirit of God was “hovering over” the not-yet-formed earth. It was the powerful Spirit of God who formed the first man from the dust of the ground and formed the first woman from the rib of the man. 

This theme runs throughout Scripture: the Spirit of God generates life. He produces life. He did so supernaturally to create Adam, to create Eve, and to make the Son of God incarnate in Mary’s womb. And “therefore,” Gabriel says, verse 35, “the child to be born will be called holy,” or set apart, “—the Son of God.” Jesus would not be fathered by a man, by the “Adam” side of the marriage. 

We also saw in Genesis that it was Adam with whom God made His covenant of works and Adam broke the covenant, bringing both the guilt of sin and the natural tendency to sin on all of mankind after him. Adam’s sin was imputed to us. 

But Jesus would not have a human father, therefore he did not have Adam as a father in this sense. But He was born of a woman; He was human. And yet He was also God, not possessing a sinful nature like all of us. So \He was able to live a sinless life in our place.

In ancient Israel, the high priest would sacrifice lambs without blemish for the sins of the people. This demonstrated that the wages of sin is death. The process was repeated year after year because it could not take away sins once and for all. Hebrews 10 in the NT says, [12] “But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God.” The divine King is also the spotless Lamb who redeems perfectly. Again, because he was fully man, He could die in our place, and because He was fully God, He could sufficiently pay the fullness of our sin debt.

Perhaps, to you, that seems impossible. But God addresses that. Notice verse [36]. Gabriel says to Mary, “And behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren.” Elizabeth was previously infertile, and she was now much older than typical child-bearing age. How could such a thing occur? Verse [37] “For nothing will be impossible with God.” 

No command of God can be stopped or hindered. If God commands it to be so, if God issues His powerful Word, then it will happen. Just as with the creation of the world. Just as with the creation of mankind. Just as those dead in sins made alive in Christ. Each one is only possible by the power of the Holy Spirit of God. Verse [38] And Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord.” She surrenders. She yields completely to the will of God and says, “let it be to me according to your word.” Gabriel’s word was simply the relaying of God’s Word.

But without the virgin birth, all of this is just talk. Without the virgin birth, there is no man who stands in our place while being God who pays for our sins. If Jesus was conceived in the normal way, well, then he’s just another man. And if he’s just another man, then he’s just another sinner. 

And if Jesus is just another sinner, then all of us are still dead in our sins. 

The Spirit of God exerted His mighty power for your salvation! We must yield to His will by faith.

For God’s glory and for our joy, we must repent and say,  “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to Your word.”

Please bow with me in prayer.