WHY IS EASTER SO IMPORTANT

WHY EASTER IS SO IMPORTANT

Two thousand years ago, in the Middle East, an event occurred that permanently changed the world. Because of that event, history was split. Every time you write a date, you’re using the resurrection of Jesus Christ as the focal point.

What’s so important about Easter? It’s important because it proved that Jesus was who He claimed to be. He was God in the flesh, and He came to earth to save us.

Three events occurred in a dramatic succession on that Easter weekend: the trial of Jesus, then the death of Jesus, and finally the resurrection of Jesus. Let’s look at each of those events and their implications.

The Trial

Jesus actually went through six trials. In that one night, He was brought before Annas, Caiaphas (the high priest), the Sanhedrin (the religious Supreme Court), Pilate (the governor of Jerusalem), Herod (the governor of Galilee), and then back to Pilate. At the end of those six trials, what did they find to accuse him of? Nothing. He had done nothing wrong. They brought in people to make up phony charges, but those didn’t stick. Finally they convicted him on one count: claiming to be the Son of God. That’s the sole reason Jesus went to the cross. They didn’t like that claim.

Everyone who has ever been presented with Jesus has already made some kind of decision about who He is. You either believe He’s a liar, or you believe He’s a lunatic, or you believe He’s the Lord. It can’t just be: “I believe He was a good teacher.” He couldn’t be just a good teacher, because a good teacher would not say, “I’m God, and I’m the only way to Heaven.” A good person would not say that unless it was the truth.

Jesus claimed to be the Savior of the world. In John 12:47b, He is recorded as saying: “I have come to save the world and not to judge it” (NLT). He allowed himself to be put on trial so there would be no doubt about who He was. He could have stopped the trial at any moment. He knew He would be proven guilty and put on the cross — but He allowed it to happen. It was all part of the plan.

The Death

After a night of beatings and mocking, after being crowned with painful thorns, Jesus was crucified. Crucifixion is probably the most brutal and torturous death penalty ever devised by men. His hands were stretched out wide against the cross and nailed through the two bones in each wrist. As the nails went through this part of the flesh, they would strike the nerve that travels up the arm and cause excruciating pain.

If you hung this way for any period of time, the muscles around your chest cavity began to be paralyzed. You’d be able to breathe in but you couldn’t breathe out. Death on a cross would have been a simple matter of suffocation — except the Romans didn’t want to make it that easy. They’d take a person’s knees and bend them a little bit and nail the feet to the cross. So a man would hang there in absolute agony until the pain in his chest was about to explode — and then He would lift himself up on his nailed feet to grab a breath. When the pain in his feet grew unbearable, He’d let himself back down again — until the pain in his lungs became unbearable. It was an incredibly torturous event. Eventually, the soldiers would break the legs of the criminal to hasten death by suffocation.

In the case of Jesus, they didn’t have to break his legs, because He had already died. But just to make sure, they stuck a spear in his side. Water and blood came out of the chest cavity, which, doctors say, only happens if the Heart rips. You can call it what you want, but Jesus died of a broken Heart.

Why did Jesus have to die? Because He alone was able to pay for our sins. We deserved punishment, but Jesus paid the penalty.

The Resurrection

After Jesus died, they took his body down and put him in the tomb, and a giant millstone was set in front of the cave. The religious leaders — worried that Jesus’ body might be stolen — asked for Roman guards to be posted in front of the tomb. They didn’t want him coming out! But of course, He did.

You know the story. But it’s important to remember that Easter is not some memorial to a nice, good religious teacher who lived 2,000 years ago. It’s a celebration of the fact that He is alive today. I’m living proof — and so are the billions of  Christians who will celebrate Easter this weekend.

“By being raised from the dead He was proved to be the mighty Son of God, with the holy nature of God himself” (Romans 1:4 TLB).

Easter is the Good News about God’s Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, who came as a human baby, born into King David’s royal family line. Four historical records say He showed himself to 500 people at one gathering. Can you imagine witnessing his death and then seeing him walking around Jerusalem three days later? What an amazing thing! When Jesus was hanging on the cross, the skeptics and critics mocked him and in effect said, If you’re the Son of God, why don’t you just pull yourself down from that cross? Why don’t you just come down and show that you’re really God? Jesus had something more spectacular planned. He essentially said, I’m going to let you bury me for three days, then I’ll come back to life to prove that I am what I am.

What does this mean to us today? In one sense, Jesus Christ is still on trial. He’s on trial in the Heart and mind of every person who has not yet acknowledged him as the Son of God, the Savior of the world.

What’s your verdict? You see, Easter really boils down to only two issues. One, is Jesus who He says He is? Is He God? Or is He a lunatic or a liar? And two, if He is who He says He is, how will that change how you think and live your life?

Why does Jesus call Himself the Son of Man

Why is Jesus called "Son of Man"?

 

Let me give a common understanding and then a more sophisticated historical understanding.

The common understanding is that "Son of God" implies his deity—which it does—and that "Son of Man" implies his humanity, which it does too.

He was a son of man, that is, a human being. And he is the Son of God, in that he has always existed as the Eternally Begotten One who comes forth from the Father forever. He always has, and he always will. He is the Second Person of the Trinity with all of the divine nature fully in him.

He is born of a virgin. He had a human father but he didn't have sex with this virgin until Jesus was conceived. He was conceived of the Holy Spirit in the virgin Mary. Thus he is human—fully human. The Bible wants to emphasize that he is fully human.

So that's the common understanding: he is both divine and he is human—two natures, one person.

The more sophisticated and important historical insight is that the term "Son of Man" doesn't merely align him with humanity. It is probably taken from Daniel 7. And if you read that chapter you'll see that the Son of Man is a very exalted figure: not just a human figure but an exalted figure. It was Jesus' favorite self-designation.

If you do a study of the term "Son of Man" in the Gospels you'll see that he didn't refer to himself most often as Son of God but as Son of Man. He said things like, in Mark 10:45, "The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many." So he calls himself Son of Man very often.

I think the reason he did so is because, on the face of it, Son of Man is an ordinary phrase for "human being." He was born of a man. And there's no offense there: who isn't a son of man? But those with ears to hear could hear Daniel 7, in which he was claiming a very exalted role in the history of redemption. And he meant to do it.

Jesus was very subtle in that he was always opening his identity to those with eyes to see, but he wasn't opening it so blatantly that everybody would come and make him king. He had to steer a very narrow course in disclosing his identity, not just openly saying, "I'm the Messiah, I'm the King of the World. Come and acknowledge me as King." He didn't talk like that.

He was quiet. He was subtle. And he would make claims that were explicit in certain settings and implicit in others. And only when the time was right—mainly when he was on trial for his life, and they said, "Are you the Christ, the Son of the living God?"—did he say, "I am, and you will see the Son of Man coming with great power and glory." So he confessed his open deity right at the point where he knew he would be crucified for it. 

So I hope that helps. "Son of Man" has the double meaning of human being and, according to Daniel 7, exalted heavenly one. And Jesus means to communicate both of those.

Did the Resurrection Really Happen?

DID THE RESURRECTION REALLY HAPPEN?

Every year around this time churches are full of people celebrating the resurrection of Jesus Christ and God’s promise that salvation from death has been given to us. However, almost every year some atheist somewhere releases a new program, book, or video, proclaiming they have discovered some purported evidence that destroys orthodox biblical Christianity. These are always debunked later on, but the damage is already done and the “debunking” article, book, or video never gets the hype and exposure that the damaging one received. So this year I want to take a look at the resurrection before Easter so we can truly celebrate on Easter.

Unlike Thomas, we don’t have the luxury of placing our fingers in the wounds of the resurrected Christ. For us the greatest source of information concerning the resurrection is the Bible. When I was in law school we were taught that if you have absolutely no defense and don't have solid ground to stand on, discredit the source of their claim. Those who say the resurrection didn’t happen usually attack the Bible saying that it can’t be trusted; that it is a bunch of stories and legends written down long after Jesus died and twisted to give power to those who wrote them. Therefore, we must ask, can the history Scripture teaches be trusted?

Again, I can’t reproduce the same kind of things that stopped Doubting Thomas from doubting, but there are several things that we can look at to test if the resurrection taught by Scripture is historically credible and can be trusted.

The date of original writing is extremely close to the actual events.

The timing between the events occurring and the writing of the events is far too short for the Gospels to be legends. The Gospel accounts were written at the very most forty to sixty years after Jesus' death. Paul's letters, written just fifteen to twenty-five years after the death of Jesus, provide an outline of all the events of Jesus' life found in the Gospels (his miracles, claims, crucifixion, and resurrection). The two earliest biographies of Alexander the Great were written more than four hundred years after Alexanders' death, yet historians consider them to be generally trustworthy. Why? Because legendary material only began to emerge in the centuries after the early writings, i.e. five hundred years later. So whether the Gospels were written forty or sixty years after the life of Jesus, the amount of time is negligible by comparison. It is therefore very unlikely that those writings would have fallen victim to legend or faulty memories. Professor Sherwin-White, a respected Greco-Roman classical historian from Oxford University established that the passage of two generations was not enough time for legend to develop in the ancient world and wipe out a solid core of historical truth. In the case of Jesus, we have reliable information about his divinity and resurrection that falls safely within that span.

Written accounts circulated during time of eyewitnesses (other than NT writers).

The dates of the NT documents indicate that they were written within the lifetime of contemporaries of Christ. People were still alive who could remember the things he said and did. This includes hostile eyewitnesses who would have served as a corrective if false teachings about Jesus were going around.

Written by eyewitnesses.

All NT writers were either apostles or associated with the apostles as eyewitnesses and/or contemporaries. Matthew and John were disciples of Jesus. Mark was a contemporary and associate of the apostle Peter (1 Pet 5:13). Luke was a companion of Paul (2 Tim 4:11) who interviewed many eyewitnesses to produce his account (Luke 1:1-4). James and Jude were closely associated with the apostles in Jerusalem and were Jesus' brothers. Paul received his apostleship by a revelation from Jesus. In each case there is a definite link between the writer and the apostles who gave them information.

The accounts were meant to stand up to scrutiny and court challenge should blasphemy charges be laid

The way Mark (Mark 15:44-47) reports the burial is significant: He is “certifying” that Jesus was really dead. Joseph of Arimathea is named here as an identified witness who actually had Jesus’ body wrapped up and sealed it in a tomb. A Roman centurion (who would be an expert) bore witness of Jesus’ death to Pilate (who would be the legal authority on the matter). Finally, two women are cited as eyewitnesses to the burial. So multiple experts and witnesses prove He was really dead. Anyone at that time could go and track down witnesses to see what had happened.

Corroborated by non-Christian accounts.

There are numerous references to Jesus as a historical figure who died at the hand of Pontius Pilate. Some even noted that He was reported to have risen from the dead. Tacitus, a Roman historian, made at least three references to Christ. Josephus, a Jewish historian working for the Romans in the first century, mentioned Jesus, His death and reports of His appearance after death. The fact that neither Josephus nor any other contemporary of the apostles made any attempt to refute the resurrection is significant. Also, the Talmud, a rabbinical commentary on the Torah, mentions Jesus and the Gospels are cited in other first-century works, including The Epistle of Barnabas, The Didache, Clement’s Corinthians, and Ignatius’ Seven Epistles.  The Nazareth Inscription is one of the most powerful pieces of extra-biblical evidence that the resurrection of Christ was being preached right from the earliest beginnings of Christianity.

They died for their story.

As French mathmetition Blaise Pascal put it, “I believe those witnesses that get their throats cut.” All the disciples who ran away in fearful flight (John 20:19) following Jesus’ arrest and crucifixion were so convinced of the resurrection that they were willing to risk their lives testifying to it. What gave these cowards the backbone to do this?  Virtually all the apostles and early Christian leaders died for their faith, and it is hard to believe that this kind of powerful self-sacrifice would be done to support a hoax. People might live with a lie if it brings them money or power, but people won’t die for a lie. In short, we must ask, what caused these remarkable transformations?

The Empty Tomb

This fact is supported by three considerations. First, Jesus was buried in a well-known tomb. This is important, because if the location of Jesus’ tomb was uncontroversial, the claim by the early Church that Jesus had vacated His tomb could have been easily verified (or, for that matter, discounted). That Jesus’ tomb was well known is attested by material both early and non-legendary. Mark’s gospel, written no more than 30 years after Jesus’ crucifixion and itself based on even earlier sources, mentions that Jesus was buried in the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea (Mk 15:43). This early detail can’t be a fictitious insertion by later Christian authors. After all, Joseph was a member of the Jewish Council (or Sanhedrin; Mk 15:43). In other words, why would later Christians invent a story about a Jewish Sanhedrist helping Jesus? Had the early Christians created this detail, the Jewish authorities could have disproved it easily. They could have checked the records to find out whether or not Joseph had been a member of the Council and/or whether or not his tomb had been used, not to mention vacated, by Jesus.

Second, not only was Jesus’ tomb well known, it was also found empty. This detail is also found in very early sources, this time not only in Mark’s report (16:1–8) but also in Paul’s (implied in 1 Cor 15:4).⁷ In fact, many scholars date the tradition Paul speaks of in 1 Corinthians 15:3 to within five or six years after Jesus’ death. Moreover, Mark’s report that the tomb was found empty by women. Celsus, a Greek philosopher who lived in the second century A.D., was highly antagonistic to Christianity and wrote a number of works listing arguments against it. One of the arguments he believed most telling went like this: Christianity can’t be true, because the written accounts of the resurrection are based on the testimony of women—and we all know women are hysterical. And many of Celsus’ readers agreed: For them, that was a major problem. In ancient societies, as you know, women were marginalized, and the testimony of women was never given much credence.

Do you see what that means? If Mark and the Christians were making up these stories to get their movement off the ground, they would never have written women into the story as the first eyewitnesses to Jesus’ empty tomb. If Mark and the early Christians were inventing stories, it would have been fine, upstanding, reliable male witnesses being first at the tomb. The only possible reason for the presence of women in these accounts is that they really were present and reported what they saw.

The Resurrection Appearances

Paul’s early account speaks of hundreds of witnesses who claim to have seen Jesus risen (1 Cor 15:5–9). Paul indicates in this text that the risen Jesus not only appeared to individuals and small groups but he also appeared to five hundred people at once, most of whom were still alive at the time of his writing and could be consulted for corroboration. Paul’s letter was to a church, and therefore it was a public document, written to be read aloud. Paul was inviting anyone who doubted that Jesus had appeared to people after his death to go and talk to the eyewitnesses if they wished. It was a bold challenge and one that could easily be taken up, since during the pax Romana travel around the Mediterranean was safe and easy. Paul could not have made such a challenge if those eyewitnesses didn’t exist. There are many instances of sightings of Jesus’ resurrection but I like to go to Paul where he says that Jesus appears to 500 people. I like this one because it flies in the face of the argument that these were just hallucinations of distraught people. If it was just one or two that would be one thing, but 500 at a time is unheard of.

No one Believed in Resurrection

Quite often I hear “Well, people back then believed in the supernatural so they believe people could come back from the dead.” The trouble with this statement is that if there is one thing that modern day atheist and 1st century Jews hold in common is that they cannot believe in the resurrection. The resurrection was as inconceivable for the first disciples, as impossible for them to believe, as it is for many of us today. Granted, their reasons would have been different from ours. The Greeks did not believe in resurrection; in the Greek worldview, the afterlife was liberation of the soul from the body. For them, resurrection would never be part of life after death. As for the Jews, some of them believed in a future general resurrection when the entire world would be renewed, but they had no concept of an individual rising from the dead. The people of Jesus’ day were not predisposed to believe in resurrection any more than we are. Even today with global communications at our finger tips, it takes at least 20 years for a new idea to take hold and start to be accepted. In the case of the resurrection it went from not being believed to widely accepted overnight. Therefore, we must ask, from whence did this belief in a bodily resurrection come from, if not from the reality of Jesus’ Resurrection appearances?

Explosion of the Christian Church

After the death of Jesus the entire Christian community suddenly adopted a set of beliefs that were brand-new. Their view of resurrection was absolutely unprecedented in history. They believed that the future resurrection had already begun in Jesus. There was no process or development. His followers said that their beliefs did not come from debating and discussing philosophical ideas; they were just telling others what they had seen themselves. Even if you propose the highly unlikely idea that one or two disciples did get the idea that He was raised from the dead on their own, they would never have got a movement of other Jews to believe it unless there were multiple, inexplicable, plausible, repeated encounters with Jesus.

How could a group of first-century Jews have come to worship a human being as divine? It was absolute blasphemy to propose that any human being should be worshipped. Yet thousands of Jews began worshipping Jesus literally overnight. The hymn to Christ as God that Paul quotes in Philippians 2 is generally recognised to have been written just a few years after the crucifixion. What enormous event broke through all of that Jewish resistance? If they had seen him resurrected, this would certainly account for it.

My Conclusion

Most people think that, when it comes to Jesus’ resurrection the burned of proof is on believers to give evidence that it happened. That is not completely the case. The resurrection also puts a burden of proof on its nonbelievers. It is not enough to simply say “I don’t believe that Jesus rose from the dead.” You must come up with a reason why, overnight, history changed course and the Christian Church was born. Yet no reasonable answer has ever been given. Every account flies in the face of everything we know about 1^st century history and culture.

I can sympathize with a person who says “I don’t know history and culture but I just can’t believe the resurrection happened.” But you know what, the 1^st Century Jews and gentiles felt exactly the same way. They found the resurrection just as inconceivable. The only way anyone embraced the resurrection back then was by letting the evidence challenge their preconceived notions of life and the world and their views as to what is possible. They opened themselves to the evidence, both of the eyewitness accounts and the changed lives of Christ’s followers – and it was overwhelming.   

GOD'S CALL TO US THIS CHRISTMAS PART 2

Mary: A Call to Provide

Luke 1:26-38

Just last week I got a telephone call from my grandson Sam. We had our usual conversation “Hello?”

“(awkward pause) Is gramma there?”

“Yep here you go.” And with that I pass it over to Ruth.

Normally Sam’s conversations are 5 minutes long, but this time it went on and on and on.  When Ruth eventually hung up I said “So … what was that call all about?”

“Oh,” she said “He was just calling in what he wanted for Christmas.”

I am sure that every one of you are going to either make one of those calls or receive one of those calls yourselves this year. Maybe you’ll do both. But let me tell you this God has call for you this Christmas. That call might be different for each and every one of us here but God will be calling you this Christmas. Indeed He has been calling to people since the very first one.

God’s first call was to a priest, a very holy man, in the city of Jerusalem, God’s Holy City, who was working in the Temple, the place the called the House of God. If we were to think about who or where God was going to call to someone we are certainly not surprised He called to a holy man, in the Holy City, working in the holy temple. But that is not the only place God calls. 

“In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin's name was Mary. And he came to her and said, “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!” But she was greatly troubled at the saying and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be. And the angel said to her, “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.”

And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?”

And the angel answered her, “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 also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. For nothing will be impossible with God.” And Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” And

the angel departed from her.” Luke 1:26-38

This message from the angel was unbelievable news from the lips of Gabriel to the ears of Mary was a call to provide. Every Jewish girl prayed and dreamed of the privilege being the Madonna … the mother of the Messiah of God’s people. The thought of being chosen to be a part of the plan that would provide the rescuer, redeemer, and savior for Israel was a hope and a future any young Jewish lady would be honored to experience. And it’s just like God to extend the Call of Christmas to come forth from the place, person, and circumstances that we see in the story.

Verse 26 sets the stage for us.

“In the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth,” Luke 1:26

The city of Nazareth is quite a contrast to the city of Jerusalem that is the staging ground for the earlier section in chapter 1. If a city was to provide a carrier for the Messiah, it seems like Jerusalem would be much more of a natural option. Jerusalem was the center of the Jewish world. Nazareth was off the beaten path. It was accessible to trade routes, but one had to want to go to Nazareth to get there. Jerusalem was seen as significant; Nazareth seemed insignificant. John 1:46 records the contemporary Judean opinion of Nazareth.

“Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” John 1:46

And the region of Galilee was such a contrast to the region of Judea. The former was out in the country; the latter had a wilderness but was known for the big city. Galilee was rough around the

edges and anything but Kosher in their kitchens. Judea was much more polished, prim and proper and followed all the religious rules. But at the end of the day, God sends an angel both to Jerusalem to give a message to a priest in the temple just as quickly as He seeks out a quaint town on the outskirts of the country hills in Nazareth for a visitation. All real estate on the earth is an equal opportunity for God to do something great and place a call to provide for the next part of His plan.

No matter if you live in the big city or the big country, on the right side of the tracks or the wrong side, in the high tax bracket neighborhoods or below the poverty line, God knows where you are and how to send a message your way. He is calling you this Christmas!

Wherever you are this Christmas, God can use you to be a part of His plan and to do His will. You never are off the grid when it comes to God and his location services. He is aware of your whereabouts and has plans for you regardless of where you come from or where you live. Verse 27 goes on to tell us about the one with the womb who would be called upon to provide the savior would be a most unlikely candidate in the eyes of the world. God sent Gabriel

“to a virgin betrothed to a man who name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin’s name was Mary.” Luke 1:27

The fact that it states Mary was “betrothed” to Joseph meant they were not merely engaged. A Jewish engagement resulted in a marital status which, though unconsummated, was as sacred as marriage itself. The consummation would come later, but the commitment and covenant were just as strong beforehand in the eyes of that culture and time. The fact that she is signified as a virgin harkens back to the prophecy of the Messiah from Isaiah that all Jews would be aware of in that day.

“Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a

son, and shall call his name Immanuel.” Isaiah 7:14

Luke is writing details that tie back to Old Testament prophecy in such a way as if to say to all his readers: “Here’s your sign!”

Luke goes on to unfurl what God’s messenger, Gabriel, said to Mary upon his arrival in verse 28.

“And he came to her and said, ‘Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!” Luke 1:28

The more things change, the more things stay the same. While this salutation from the angel looks unique at first glance, it is very similar to the way the angel of the Lord greeted another unsuspecting individual with a mighty call to provide for the people of God. In the book of Judges, we see God call a man named Gideon to a great task that would save his people from the oppressive Midianites. In chapter 6:12 the scene is recorded.

“And the angel of the Lord appeared to him and said to him, ‘The Lord is with you, O mighty

man of valor.” Judges 6:12

The message from the angel for both Gideon and Mary includes the reminder that “The Lord is with you.” And the name stated in Isaiah’s prophecy we just noted from 7:14 for the coming Messiah was Immanuel. The meaning: God with us. The Lord is with you. The Call of Christmas is a reminder that the Lord is with you. The call of Mary is a call to provide. Only a favored one in the eyes of God would be given the privilege and the call to provide the Christ-child who soon would be with us in the form of a baby from her womb. The fact that she was a virgin would mean God would have to be the one to create inside of her this one she was being called to provide for the salvation of the world.

Such a call to motherhood in this fashion would be frightening to consider. But the appearance and speaking from an angelic visitor would cause one to be full of fear as well. Verse 29 and following confirms such an emotion.

“But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be. And the angel said to her, ‘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.’” Luke 1:29-33

Names are indicative of parental hopes, and this name certainly would stir the hopes of God’s people. The name, ‘Jesus,’ means “the Lord is salvation.” She was being called to provide the womb and nurturing motherhood for the salvation that would be put in her provided place from the Lord. She was not the one who was the source of such grace as some have supposed. It was God who chose to put His favor on her and create the salvation source in her that would be provided through her because of the goodness and favor from God.

The theological truth being: Mary by herself could not produce a son, but God could give her one

whose name, Jesus, means “God saves.” This, in essence, is the gospel: humans cannot produce their own salvation, but God can and has chosen to accomplish it for all of humanity. He just desired for the Call of Christmas to come through the womb of a virgin from a remote country village. Mary’s call was a call to provide what God had decided. She provided herself, and God would do the rest.

As Mary is processing the message from the angel she did so by asking a logical question. She knew that she had not been with Joseph yet, or any man in that regard, that possibly could have led to such a conception in her womb.

“And Mary said to the angel, ‘How will this be, since I am a virgin?’” Luke 1:34

This was not a statement of unbelief. Rather, it was a question of trying to understand. God never

gets tired or frustrated with our honest questions. He invites us to stay curious as we seek to

understand who He is and what He wants us to do and become in our lives.

Mary was going to have to trust God with the details. A promise was being made to Mary that only could come true to fulfillment if God provided the details. Mary was being called into the promise; her part was to provide the womb that would lead to a legacy of salvation from sin, death, Satan and hell. God provided the details. Mary provided her life as real estate to be claimed, developed and turned into a home base for the fulfillment of the promise to take place. It was a call to provide. And only God had the power to do it and make the promise come true. Mary had the opportunity to join God in the call of Christmas.

Gabriel explained God’s plan to Mary’s question of ‘how?’

“And the angel answered her, ‘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.’” Luke 1:35

As Luke writes of this conversation, he mentions the Holy Spirit just as he did earlier in verse 15 and as he does six more times in his first two chapters: (1:41, 67, 80, 2:25, 26, 27). The reason this is so important is that Luke does not want his readers to forget that the Call of Christmas is wrapped in the activity and working of the Holy Spirit. Verse 35 references that not only will the Holy Spirit come upon Mary with this incredible detail of how this promise is going to come to fruition, Luke also notes that God’s power is going to “overshadow” Mary in the process.

The word for ‘overshadow’ in the original language is episkiazo and carries the sense of the holy, powerful presence of God. The same meaning from this word is how the cloud that covered and overshadowed the tabernacle when the tent was filled with the glory of God from the Old Testament story in Exodus 40:34-35.

“Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. And Moses was not able to enter the tent of meeting because the cloud settled on it, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.” Exodus 40-34-35

The same imagery and feel from how the presence of God is described in the Old Testament reference above is the same imagery and feel with the word “overshadowed” here in the details of Gabriel’s message to Mary. God’s presence through his Holy Spirit is going to be thick and at work in such a way that it is clear something holy is happening in our midst.

There are places on the earth where the moment you walk into it there is a sense that you are standing on holy ground. The great Cathedrals of Europe that cause a person to look up and feel small as the massive arches ascend towards the heavens can have this effect. When a choir fills the cavernous space with angelic voices that reverberate throughout, a person can have a feeling of being overshadowed, episkiazo, by the presence of God’s Holy Spirit.

The word episkiazo is used again in all three accounts of the Transfiguration to describe the overshadowing of the cloud in Matthew 17:5 cf., Mark 9:7 and Luke 9:34.

“He was still speaking when, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the

cloud said, ‘This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.” Matthew 17:5

In each account the voice comes out of the cloud identifying Jesus as God’s Son, a striking reminder of what Luke states in 1:35 where the life that results from the enveloping cloud is identified as the Son of God.

Biblical scholar William Hendriksen notes that the overshadowing or covering which Luke speaks of here in verse 35 is not static but active. It is creative and productive. It causes Mary to conceive a child. Such activity by the Spirit of God moves back to the creation account in Genesis 1:2 where the Spirit of God is stated as being present and hovering.

“The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.” Genesis 1:2

Life soon abounds where the active Spirit of God was at work. The same connection is seen in other places throughout the Bible such as Psalm 104:30.

“When you send forth your Spirit, they are created, and you renew the face of the ground.” Psalm 104:30

The overshadowing Spirit, therefore, not only protects but also creates. It brings about conception in Mary’s womb that she provides. The Call of Christmas for Mary is a Call to Provide. N.T. Wright goes on to suggest, “The Holy Spirit will come upon Mary, enabling her (as the Spirit always does) to do and be more than she could by herself. But at the same time, the ‘power of the Most High’ will overshadow her. This is something different: God Himself, the Creator, will surround her completely with his sovereign power.”

God’s power from outside, and the indwelling Spirit within, together result in things being done which would have been unthinkable any other way. At the same time, God supernaturally is providing the details of how the Messiah will be born by Mary, notice the kindness of God in how He provides someone to walk alongside Mary during this unique time of her calling.

“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. For nothing will be impossible with God.” Luke 1:36-37

Experts of that time and culture suggest Mary likely suffered embarrassment and loneliness as a result of being the person picked by God to be the mother of God’s Chosen One. The angel not only delivers God’s message with a sign to her regarding her immaculate conception while still a virgin, but also suggests a confidant with whom she may share her strange and wonderful experience in her relative Elizabeth. It always is better to walk through unique and challenging seasons of life when we have someone by our side to help experience the journey. God knew this. And God provided for even the smallest details and every emotional need that Mary would experience along the way.

Robert Dean notes many interesting parallels between the angelic announcements to Elizabeth’s husband, Zechariah, and Mary found in Luke 1. In each case the angel Gabriel appeared and announced the birth of a son who was to play a crucial role in God’s plan; a son who was named by the angel and who was to be born under unusual circumstances. However, in spite of the parallels, there are at least three significant differences.

First: Messenger and Messiah. John was to be the prophetic Messenger, and Jesus was to be the Messiah.

Second: Old Age and Virgin Birth. John was born to an old couple beyond normal childbearing years. Jesus was born of a virgin. The language of Luke 1:35 is that of Genesis 1, where the Spirit of God was active in creation. John’s conception has Old Testament parallels in Isaac, the child of promise born to Abraham and Sarah in their old age from Genesis 21; but the conception of Jesus has its parallel in the miracle of the divine creation. Jesus was born to a virgin, but he was born.

Third: The Priest of God and the Servant of the Lord. Different responses to Gabriel came forth from Zechariah and Mary upon receiving their respective messages and calls to Christmas. Each initially was troubled, afraid and questioned how such a thing could be. However, there the similarities end.

Zechariah was struck dumb by his unbelief. Mary, by contrast, believed. The angel told Mary of Elizabeth’s conception in her old age in verse 36 and used words reminiscent of God’s words to Abraham and Sarah; “With God, nothing will be impossible.” (cf. v.37 and Genesis 18:14 “Is anything too hard for the Lord?”)

Mary responded with trust and submission to God’s will in verse 38 because she believed what the angel reminded her of in verse 37.

“For nothing will be impossible with God.” And Mary said, ‘Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.’ And the angel departed from her.” Luke 1:37-38

The fact that nothing is impossible with God is one of the most hopeful statements of reality found in the entire Bible.

So I ask you, what is your “impossible” this Christmas that the Lord wants to remind you is not impossible with Him?

Is your “impossible” a situation at work, at school, with your finances, your marriage, a strained relationship with your kids that seems all but lost? Is your “impossible” a slate of responsibilities that feels crippling and consuming? Is your “impossible” a never ending debt payment that soaks up all you make and leaves you with little to live on without taking on more debt?

What if your Call of Christmas is a reminder that nothing is impossible when the Savior is on the

scene?

What if your call is like Mary’s: a call to provide God space to take up residence within your life and begin to work?

What if God wants you to provide space in your life that can be overshadowed by Him as His Holy Spirit goes to work on you, in you and through your life circumstances? The process may be painful but necessary for something new to be created. It may require counseling. It may include a total budget rework. It may be cause for confession and a request for forgiveness. But whatever God may lead you to do in your “impossible”, know that you will not be asked to walk alone. He is with you. He is Immanuel. He is Jesus. The Lord is salvation.

All you need to do is provide the Spirit of God space in your life to take up residence and being a new work in you. Mary did. And her call of Christmas was a call to provide her whole self to grow the Son of God inside her womb.

What might you ask God to produce in you and your life as you answer His call this Christmas?