Nazareth was a small rural village in the hill country of lower Galilee overlooking the great Plain of Esdraelon to the South. The expansive Plain of Esdraelon (Megiddo or Armageddon) was the site of many ancient battles as well as the future place of the most decisive battle of all. Just outside Nazareth, on the hilltops above, one can get an amazing panorama of the Mediterranean Sea to the West, the Sea of Galilee to the East, Mount Tabor to the South, and the snowcapped Mount Hermon to the North.
Mary lives a simple and quiet life with her family in the small village of Nazareth. Just recently, her father had betrothed her to Joseph, the village carpenter. They would soon be married and begin their family in Nazareth as her parents and their parents before them had done.
That day Mary was alone in the house when suddenly a bright light, more bright than the noon-day sun, shone all around her. Just as suddenly, a deep and penetrating voice surrounded her, saying, “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!” Mary was greatly troubled and confused as she grappled with what was happening to her. The angel responded to her anxiety by saying, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom, there will be no end.”
Mary’s mind was racing with questions and fears about the future. It seemed as though time were standing still and moving fast all at once. Her heart was beating rapidly as she found herself saying to the angel, “How will this be since I do not know a man?” What the angel said next would change her life forever, and she knew it that very moment. “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore, the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God. And behold your relative Elizabeth, in her old age, has conceived a son and is in the sixth month with her, who was called barren. For nothing will be impossible with God.”
Mary could feel the gravity of the angel’s words as a weight upon her, but she knew that the Lord had given her a great gift, a burdensome joy. How could she refuse this great blessing that would shatter her heart many times? And Mary said to the angel, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” Mary had entered a new door, a new sphere of existence. She was now living in the hands of the Almighty.
The angel was communicating to Mary the reality of the incarnation of God. The Holy Spirit caused her to conceive and become pregnant without the involvement of a man. God became flesh. The word incarnation means to embody or invest with human nature or form. Someone may be described as the incarnation of some virtue or evil quality. That means that the person embodies or exemplifies in their life the quality described. But when we talk about the incarnation of God, we mean that God became a human person in Jesus Christ. God did not possess a human person or seem to be a human person, but God became a human person. This is a great mystery and beyond our full comprehension, but we can grasp it to the level God has revealed it to us. Our lack of total understanding of this clear biblical teaching should not cause us to doubt or reject this great and precious truth. It is a truth that brings enlightenment and comfort.
We see the roots of this teaching in the Old Testament and the full blossom in the New Testament. In the book of the prophet Isaiah, we see two prophecies that point toward the Incarnation. First, in Isaiah 7:14, we find the startling statement, “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and you shall call his name Immanuel.” The name Immanuel means God with us. This child born to the virgin would be God with us. Yes, this prophecy had a fulfillment in Isaiah’s day, but that did not exhaust or completely fulfill the meaning of Isaiah’s words. In the New Testament, Matthew claims that this ancient prophecy finds its ultimate fulfillment in Jesus, the child to be born to Mary, the virgin (Matthew 1:22-23). We also see in Isaiah 9:6-7 that a child is to be born, and his name shall be called, among other things, Mighty God and Everlasting Father. A child who is called by these names is unthinkable in the Hebrew mind. These, and other Old Testament passages indicate the amazing truth that the Messiah would be God himself.
In the New Testament, we come face to face with the reality of the Old Testament shadows in the person of Jesus. The birth stories in Matthew and Luke show that the child Jesus was different from any other child born. The birth of a child is a wonderful and special thing, but the birth of Jesus was wonderful and special in a unique way. This child was like no other child, and Mary and Joseph knew it. The passages in Matthew 1 and Luke 1 clearly state that Mary was a virgin and that the baby was conceived by the Holy Spirit. The beauty and wonder of the Incarnation is breathtaking. God himself comes into the world he created to redeem his people.
After the angel’s visitation and message to Mary, she leaves Nazareth and journeys to the hill country of Judea to the home of the priest Zechariah and his wife Elizabeth. The journey would take about four days, giving Mary ample time to think about what the angel said and what it all might mean for her future. She had no idea what lay ahead, but she did know that the Lord was with her as the angel had promised. The details of the plan of God are often mysterious and unknown to God’s people as they walk through them. It requires faith to be faithful to what the Lord calls us to do. Thus, Mary was faithful in her part of God’s plan. She was also available and humble, characteristics needed to walk with God and do his will.
The Christmas message is that God loves us and sent his Son to come to live among us as one of us, to experience what we experience without sin so that he could take our sins in his own person and free us from the chains that bind us. The message of Christmas is love, forgiveness, grace and redemption. Thanks be unto God for his goodness!