Christmas
How Can
THIS
by Elizabeth Sikes Be?
ARY WAS A young also impact every individual who would The archangel Gabriel appeared to
M
woman of Nazareth. ever walk on the face of the earth. Mary Mary and announced that God had cho-
She was engaged to be was found to be “with child.” They could sen her to bring His precious Son into this
married to Joseph who not have confronted a greater problem world in the form of a human man. Mary
was an artisan of than the one that had befallen them. Sud- was perplexed regarding what the angel
Davidic descent. From a Jewish perspec- denly, standing solidly between them was told her. In response to his announce-
tive, their relationship was as sacred as what appeared to be an impossible barrier. ment, she asked, “How can this be, since I
that of a marriage relationship. Joseph It all happened in one fleeting but have no [intimacy with any man as a] hus-
had not yet taken Mary to his home, remarkable moment of time. In that spe- band?” (Luke 1:34).* Gabriel replied that
however; she was still a virgin and lived cial moment that is like no other moment the conception would be brought about by
in the home of her parents. before or since, something spectacular the supernatural operation of the Holy
Probably, like most young lovers, they took place. The most precious possession Spirit. He reassured her with this state-
had high hopes for a happy future. A per- in heaven was placed into a human ment: “The Holy Spirit will come upon
plexing and difficult event occurred, how- womb. The Creator of life was now being you, and the power of the Most High will
ever, an event that would forever change created. Divinity would soon arrive on overshadow you [like a shining cloud];
not only their individual lives but would earth, and God would become a man. and so the holy (pure, sinless) Thing (Off-
spring) which shall be born of you will be
called the Son of God” (v. 35).
Mary’s response to the angel’s an-
nouncement indicated her degree of accep-
tance was a complete submission to the
will of God: “Let it be done to me accord-
ing to what you have said” (v. 38).
The unbelievable had come to pass.
She was to become the mother of the
long-awaited Messiah. This was an honor
which Jewish maidens had longed for but
scarcely dared to hope would ever hap-
pen to them. Had someone asked Mary
why she had been chosen, she could not
have given an answer.
The angel’s response to Mary’s ques-
tion teaches two powerful things regarding
the Virgin Birth: (1) Jesus was conceived of
the Holy Spirit, and (2) the supernatural
element in the Virgin Birth was not in the
birth of Christ but was rather in His concep-
8 EVANGEL • DEC 2008
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