MARY DID YOU KNOW?
“Mary Did You Know?” has become a traditional Christmas song. It is hugely popular. People love it. In our recent survey of favorite Christmas songs, it won hands down.
The song speaks to all of the many blessings that Jesus bestowed on us and the things that He did for us. Teaching that message is my reason for being.
I am not a worshipper of Mary, and for your information, neither are our Catholic friends. I don’t need an intercessor between me and God. That written, Mary, is a hero to me.
You will understand why soon.
Here is the answer to the question did Mary know. It was written by Dr. Luke, who was not one of the original twelve disciples. However, he did an exhaustive investigation of all of the people who were, as well as Mary and all of the disciples that followed Jesus throughout His ministry.
Then Luke the physician wrote a meticulous, detailed letter about what he learned from all of those people. It is the third of what are known as the synoptic Gospels. It is labeled the book of Luke. It was written as a letter of explanation of Jesus to Lukes personal friend, “The excellent Theophilus”. Luke’s report is written in intricate detail.
Here is the mind boggling interaction between Mary and the messenger from God the angel Gabriel:
“Now in the sixth month (of the pregnancy of Elizabeth the wife of Zachariah, the father of John the baptist, which in itself was a miracle as Elizabeth was barren and well advanced in years.) The Angel Gabriel was sent from God to a town of Galilee named Nazareth, To a girl never having been married and a virgin engaged to be married to a man whose name was Joseph, a descendant of the house of David, and the virgin’s name was Mary.
Think about all of the meat in this report — first, the miracle of the pregnancy of Elizabeth. Second, God sent Gabriel, the same angelic messenger that had visited Zachariah, the unbeliever, to Mary, the ardent believer. Third, God chose the most humble of all people to parent Himself as a human child. Forth God chose the city of Nazareth as the beginning of His earth visit. Nazareth was a tiny village of fewer than two hundred people. It was a village of farmers and fishermen in the area known as Galilee. Nazareth was very near the coast of Lake Galilee. Galilee was the poorest part of Israel.
In today’s world, there is a wide disparity between the humble area that God chose and of the ridiculously ornate megachurches, private jets, and mansions of their leaders.
With all respect for my many Catholic friends, compare the garish gold plated Vatican, the home of the Pope, to the lowly village of Nazareth Galilee that God personally selected. How many mouths could that gold feed?
“And he came to her and said, Hail, O favored one! The Lord is with you! Blessed are you before all other women!”
“But when she saw him, she was greatly troubled and disturbed and confused at what such a greeting might mean.”
Remember the description of the Arc Angel Michael from the book of Daniel that we wrote about earlier. If you missed those messages, read it in Daniel chapter ten. These angels are breathtaking in their appearance. The only reason people did not die from fear when they saw them I speculate is that God enabled them supernaturally.
Imagine what would happen if a messenger of the Lord, who was obviously not a human, appeared before you and told you that you were honored above all other men or women. Especially a young virgin girl from a tiny village who had never seen a movie, or television or a computer or a hologram, or heard an amplified voice. You would be in full-blown shock.
Here comes the comedy, every time I read where a messenger of the Lord says do not be afraid or fear not,
I laugh. “Whoops, Mr. Angel, it’s too late. I already soiled my clothing.”
“And the angel said to her, Do not be afraid, Mary, for you, have found grace (God’s willingness, ability, and power, that has done those things for us, that we can not or will not do for ourselves. I.e., be saved.) with God.
“And listen! You will become pregnant and will give birth to 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 forefather David,
And He will reign over the house of Jacob (Everyone who worships the one true God. Meaning God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit) throughout the ages, and of His reign, there shall be no end.”
“And Mary said to the angel, How can this be since I have no intimacy with a man as a husband?”
Contrast the vast difference between the way that Mary responded to this astounding declaration from Gabriel and the way that the unbelieving Zachariah responded. Zachariah called BS on Gabriel. Mary asked him how they were going to make it happen. Extreme belief and Extreme unbelief the two greatest and opposing forces, and God can control neither. Zachariah’s unbelief almost aborted his son John the baptist for the second time. Mary’s belief caused a virgin to become pregnant with God in the flesh.
“Then the angel said to her, The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you like a shining cloud, and so the holy Thing which shall be born of you will be called the Son of God.”
“And listen! Your relative, Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is now the sixth month with her who was called barren.”
“FOR WITH GOD NOTHING IS EVER IMPOSSIBLE, AND NO WORD FROM GOD SHALL BE WITHOUT POWER OR IMPOSSIBLE OF FULFILLMENT!”
Those Words are precisely why we must learn and meditate day and night on the great and precious blood bought promises of Jesus. They are all true regardless of whether we believe them or not. They are alive and powerful! They do us no good at all if we don’t know them and practice them.
Ninety nine point nine percent of the prayer requests that I receive would become instantly irrelevant if Jesus’ children believed that blood guaranteed oath from God.
All of those of us who have accepted Jesus and have chosen to believe in and believe Him, need to memorize those words and speak them constantly!
“Then Mary said, PAY ATTENTION, I AM THE
HANDMAIDEN OF THE LORD, LET IT BE DONE TO ME ACCORDING TO WHAT YOU HAVE SAID.”
Stunning belief!!! What if every human, made that statement as Mary did, without equivocation. That statement impregnated Mary and began the greatest act of love the world will ever know.
Today unlike Mary, very few people believe the Words of Jesus. Even those who ironically call themselves “Believers.” Doubt it?
Read them John 14:12-14 or John 3:16 or John 6:28-29 or Mark 11:22-24 or Luke 6:28 or John 15:6 or Isaiah 53:4 or Matthew 8:17-18 or Psalm 103:3 and 12 or Hebrews 8:12 or Hebrews 10:10-12 or Zephaniah 3:17 or Romans 10:9-10.
What would happen if we did believe Jesus just as Mary believed Gabriel, the messenger who spoke for Him? How wonderful would this world be? Imagine the power we would enjoy?
Because of Mary’s profound statement of belief, she is one of my hero’s of faith. She and Caleb are the role models I try to follow. Both believed God without question. Mary was indeed blessed above all other women, why? Because God knew that she would believe Him, and she did; no matter how outlandish the message He sent her.
Mary frequently laid her life on the line to evangelize the world, regardless of the consequences. She taught the truth in Ephesus when Paul was thrown into an amphitheater with hungry angry lions for doing the same thing.
Next week I am going to teach about the most breathtaking miracle in the Bible, in my opinion. It has to do with a meeting between the barren Elizabeth and the virgin Mary.
